MOSCOW, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Strategic Missile Troops said on Friday that they will be armed with 48 silo launchers of the Topol-M missiles by the end of this year.

    Some 40 silo-based Topol-M missile systems have been deployed in the Russian military since 1997. The Topol-M missiles can hit targets as far as 10,000 km away and are expected to form the core of Russia's Strategic Missile Troops.

    This year, the Tatishchevo missile division will finish the deployment of four more silo launchers. "Thus, the stationary group of the Topol-M missile system will have 48 launchers by the end of 2007," the press service of the troops said.

    Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said earlier the military plans "to put on combat alert tens of silo launchers and command posts, as well as over 50 ground mobile Topol-M missile systems" under an ambitious state armament program over the following eight years.