Russia's doomsday nuclear missile carrier met with an accident on a highway, according to a report. Recent pictures of the accident show a fully-laden mobile Inter Continental Ballistic Missile Launcher has reportedly collided with a vehicle.
So far the exact circumstances of the crash are unclear but pictures show that the military vehicle inflicted heavy damage on a car.
Huge Military Vehicle Closely Resembles a MAZ-7917
While the huge military vehicle closely resembles a MAZ-7917 transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) carrying a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at first glance, it is actually an ICBM driver training vehicle. These rare vehicles carry missile-size tanks that can be filled with water or sand via large hatches on top to simulate the breaking speeds of a fully-laden mobile ICBM launcher, according to Drive.
Tom Bullock Posted The Picture
According to the image, the mobile missile carrier looks completely undamaged in the collision. The image was tweeted by a defense intelligence analyst at Janes, Tom Bullock.
Sharing the picture of the collision, Bullock wrote, "Recent car crash in Russia." In the picture, the military vehicle and the car are on the side of the road and one police or ambulance vehicle is seen in the background.
Military Vehicle Is An ICBM Driver Training Vehicle.
According to the picture, it appears that the military vehicle could have with the car head-on or near head-on. Some experts have also argued that the mobile launcher could be a training vehicle. As if the launcher would have been fully loaded, the car would have been completely destroyed.
The Topol driver training vehicle is broadly similar to the more recent BMS ICBM driver training vehicle, but the latter uses a completely different chassis and has a distinctly different top hatch arrangement. The BMS also has a secondary support role, including acting as a heavy recovery vehicle, for Russian units equipped with road-mobile Topol-M and Yars ICBMs, according to The Drive.
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