Some of the missile-types deployed in Russia are getting older, and the main aim of the tests to blast off this year has the objectives of lifetime extension. By testing the missiles, their reliability can be proven.
Military Press reports that five launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles were conducted in 2012. Three of which were held by a pilot training program to develop the defense systems and improvement of combat equipment to secure the strategic missiles to overcome anti-missile defense systems.
Russia has repeatedly protested USA’s development of an anti-missile defense system.
Last October, Russia test fired two intercontinental missiles simultaneously, one launched from the Pacific towards a target on the Kanin Peninsula on the shores of the eastern Barents Sea, and one launch the other way from Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast towards a target on Kamchatka in the Far East. That missile drill also included strategic bombers launching cruise-missiles.
The drill was said to be the largest since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.