RS-26 Rubezh

The RS-26 Rubezh (Russian: РС-26 Рубеж, meaning frontier or boundary), designated by NATO as SS-X-31, is a Russian solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a nuclear warhead, of which the range bracket just barely classifies it as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It is equipped with a thermonuclear MIRV or MaRV payload, and is also intended to be capable of carrying the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle. The RS-26 is based on RS-24 Yars, and constitutes a shorter version of the RS-24 with one fewer stages. The development process of the RS-26 has been largely comparable to that of the RSD-10 Pioneer, a shortened derivative of the RT-21 Temp 2S. Deployment of the RS-26 is speculated to have a similar strategic impact as the RSD-10.

History

After an unsuccessful test launch in September 2011, it was test-launched successfully on 26 May 2012, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north-western Russia, hitting its target minutes later 5,800 km away at the Kura Missile Test Range on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Further tests were performed successfully from Kapustin Yar to Sary Shagan in 2012 and 2013. In 2018, it was reported that procurement of the RS-26 by the state armament plan until 2027 (GPV-27) had been frozen, with funding diverted toward continued procurement of the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle.