Russia Considers MIRV Warheads for Topol-M Missiles

Russia in a few years could decide to place multiple warheads on its Topol-M ICBMs, Interfax reported today (see GSN, Dec. 6).

Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs) carry multiple warheads that can be launched at several targets from a single missile.

“At the present time Topol-M missiles are equipped with single warheads, but in the future they may carry MIRVs,” Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, head of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, told the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

A decision on using the re-entry vehicles would be made based upon policy in place after the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) with the United States expires in December 2009, Solovtsov said.

Factors that could reduce the effectiveness of Russia’s nuclear forces could lead the military to install the MIRVs, Solovtsov said.

“Such factors include deployment of foreign missile defense systems, modernization of aerial and space reconnaissance systems … and scientific breakthroughs in the sphere of developing new arms,” he said (Interfax, Dec. 16).

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