Russia test launched its new RS-24 ICBM on May 29 from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and sent it across the country to the Kamchatka Peninsula—about 3,400 miles away. The Moscow Times reports that the maiden launch with the missile’s multiple independent warheads landing on target at the Kura testing range. According to the Russian News and Information Agency, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov says the new missile would “beat any operational and future missile defenses.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates on his April visit to Moscow discussed Russian concerns about the US plan to station missile defense sites in Eastern European.
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.