The Russian Defense Ministry announced on April 11 that a Strategic Missile Forces combat crew successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kapustin Yar state central interspecific training ground in the Astrakhan region.
The launch aimed to put potential military hardware for intercontinental ballistic missiles through its paces. The launch demonstrated the conceptual framework’s and technological approaches’ viability in developing the new strategic missile systems.
The training projectile of the missile accurately struck a conditional target at the Sary-Shagan training ground (Republic of Kazakhstan). According to the Ministry, all launch objectives were completed.
In May 2020, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that a measuring complex for testing advanced armaments at the Kapustin Yar training facility had been modernised.
The objects of the experimental test base and the combat fields of the Kapustin Yar training ground are located in four regions of Russia (Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, and Orenburg) and five regions of Kazakhstan (West Kazakhstan, Aktobe, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, and Zhambyl) on land plots with a total area of approximately 9.5 million hectares, according to official data from the ministry.
In the interest of the Strategic Missile Forces, the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense stated that the test tracks and the Kapustina Yar test site permit testing of combat equipment, including a promising configuration, under the full spectrum of potential conditions for its delivery to targets.
The department previously reported that elements and components of the national missile defence system are being tested on the “Kapustin Yar – Balkhash” highway.
