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To: Tommyjo

Your one link is nine years old, being published in 1995.

I continue to see multiple newstories saying that the ICBM was the TOPOL-M (redesignated the SS-27 from the SS-25, since it is modified).

In fact, your link to the old FAS article is interesting in that it was FAS I quoted who stated it was the SS-25 modified, not the SS-19.

This 2004 article I quote below stated that both the SS-19 and the SS-25 TOPOL-M were both launched on the same day, but that it was the TOPOL that used the scramjet technology, not the SS-19.

START EXCERPT:

2/18/2004: TOPOL, SS-19 TESTED DURING EXERCISE
As part of the Security 2004 command and staff training exercise, the Strategic Rocket Forces, together with the Space Forces, undertook two launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Both launches, one from the Plesetsk Test Site in Arkhangelsk Oblast and one from the Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, proved successful. The RT-2PM Topol [NATO designation SS-25 'Sickle'] ICBM propelled from a mobile launcher at Plesetsk and the UR-100NUTTKh [NATO designation SS-19 'Stiletto'] ICBM launched from Baykonur destroyed their targets at the Kura testing ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula.[1] The launch of the Topol was notable for its use of a new experimental defense-penetrating warhead, while the SS-19 tested the ability of the military to conduct remote launches.[2,3]


110 posted on 11/20/2004 5:58:06 AM PST by Dont_Tread_On_Me_888 (John Kerry--three fake Purple Hearts. George Bush--one real heart of gold.)
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To: Dont_Tread_On_Me_888

Again it was an SS-25 (SICKLE) that was test launched under START conditions. The TOPOL-M is the SS-27. The TOPOL is the SS-25. No SS-27 was launched. The NTI is a discussion group link and not an official START mouthpiece or anything to do with it. The Russians are coy to the system that launched the HGV and the press have ran with what they think it was. This media hype even led to them stating it was a TOPOL-M launch.

You do realise that an RC-135 was off the coast during the window of the launches announced by the Russians? The telemetry is all open and collected under treaty conditions by the RC-135. The media speculation was completely incorrect on the launch platform used.


111 posted on 11/20/2004 1:28:53 PM PST by Tommyjo
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