Russia test-launches RS-18 ICBM missile

RUSSIA successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in a test firing today, the Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement.

The RS-18 missile blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and hit a set target in the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East, about 6700 kilometres east of Moscow.

The missile, also known as the SS-19, was launched to determine whether its service life could be extended. It has been in service for 27 years.