Russia on Tuesday successfully test fired its long range ballistic missile RS-18 from its Baiknonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a new warhead aimed at overcoming Western air defence systems, news agencies said.

The RS-18, a warhorse missile known to the West as Stilet (Stileto) that the Russian defence ministry has given a new lease of life, successfully hit its target on the Kamchatka Pensinsula on the Pacific, the reports quoted the defence ministry as saying.

The RIA Novosti news agency said that the RS-18 missile was now carrying a new warhead aimed at overcoming missile defence systems at a time of growing tensions over plans for a US missile shield in Europe.