RS-24 Yars

Russia's principal solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile, deployed on road-mobile launchers and in silos with multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads.

Overview

The RS-24 Yars is a Russian three-stage, solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile operated exclusively by the Strategic Rocket Forces. Known to NATO as the SS-27 Mod 2 and also identified in some sources as the SS-29 or Topol-MR, it is a multiple-warhead development of the single-warhead Topol-M. Yars is deployed in both road-mobile and silo-based configurations, combining a dispersed mobile force with hardened fixed launch sites.

The missile has become the numerical backbone of Russia's land-based strategic nuclear force as older Soviet-era systems retire and the heavy RS-28 Sarmat program encounters delays. The Federation of American Scientists estimated that approximately 206 mobile and silo-based Yars missiles were deployed as of March 2025, although exact force totals, annual production and current warhead loadings are not publicly established. Late-2025 external estimates placed the force at approximately 180 road-mobile missiles and more than 30 silo-based missiles.

Yars carries multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles rather than the single warhead fitted to most deployed Topol-M missiles. Public estimates differ over its maximum range and payload: CSIS Missile Threat lists a maximum range of 10,500 km, three warheads and a 1,200 kg payload, while other open sources report a range of 11,000-12,000 km and up to four warheads. These figures remain external assessments rather than complete Russian disclosures.

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