Russia on Wednesday successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, the country's Strategic Rocket Forces press service said.

The silo-based missile RS-18 blasted off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and precisely hit an assigned target on the Kura testing ground in the Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, the Interfax news agency reported.

The launch, the fifth of its kind since the beginning of this year, is aimed at testing the tactical and technical characteristics of the missile, the type of which has remained on combat duty for 27 years.

"The results of the launch will help set a real service life for these types of missiles," the Strategic Rocket Forces' press service was quoted as saying.

The forces' commander, Nikolai Solovtsov, said earlier that 10 ballistic missiles are planned to be test-fired in 2004.

RS-18 missiles are capable of carrying up to 10 warheads over a range of 10,000 km.