Moscow: A missile brigade from the Siberian military district will test fire two SS-21 Scarab short-range ballistic missiles during Nov. 13-17 exercise at a test site in south Russia, a Ground Forces spokesman said Thursday. The SS-21, or Tochka, is a road-mobile single-warhead ballistic missile designed for tactical deployment. It has been in service with missile units of the Russian Ground Forces since 1976 and has a range of 70 km (45 miles).
“The missile units will conduct missile firing practices [at the Kapustin Yar testing site in the Astrakhan Region] and will test launch two Tochka tactical missiles,” Colonel Igor Konashenkov said.
The spokesman said the Ground Forces have conducted a total of 12 successful test launches of Tochka missiles since the beginning of this year.
He also said that the Tochka (SS-21 Scarab A) and Tochka-U (SS-21 Scarab B) missiles would be gradually replaced with new Iskander-M (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) theater missiles, capable of carrying multiple warheads.
