Russia’s Sarmat super-heavy ICBM undergoes first full flight test

Russia conducted the first test of a super‐heavy RS-28 Sarmat ICBM (pictured leaving a silo) at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast on 20 April. (Russian Ministry of Defence)

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced in a press release on 20 April that at 1512 local time the first test of a super‐heavy RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was conducted at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast.

The MoD declared the test successful and said that the dummy warhead landed at the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

At least three ejection tests of the missile have been conducted since December 2017, all at Plesetsk, but the 20 April test represents the first full flight test of the missile.