Russia conducts Yars drills, launches Rassvet communications satellites

A Bureau 1440 Rassvet communications satellites just after separation from its launch vehicle on 23 March 2026. (Bureau 1440)

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 2 April 2026 that the Strategic Missile Forces conducted a command and staff exercise. This exercise involved the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The exercise involved camouflaged movements of Yars transporter erector launchers (TELs), response to simulated enemy attacks, including countering ⁠attack from the air. The ministry did not report any missile launches.

Rassvet constellation

Russian state news agency TASS reported that on 23 March that Russian company Bureau 1440 had launched the first 16 communications satellites in a planned constellation called Rassvet (Dawn).

The 16 satellites, intended for a low Earth orbit (LEO), were launched in a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

Bureau 1440 wants the Rassvet constellation to be an alternative version of SpaceX's Starlink LEO communications satellite network, the Russian company said. It added that it plans the constellation to orbit at around 800 km, delivering 1 gbit/second internet with a signal delay of up to 70 ms.

The Rassvet service is scheduled to launch in 2027, by which time it plans to have more than 250 satellites in orbit. By 2035, the constellation could reach 900 satellites, Russian state owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

The Rassvet constellation will use 5G NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) and inter-satellite laser links for communication.

Bureau 1440 is a subsidiary of Russian technology conglomerate X Holding.

For more, please see: Russia says Oreshnik unit in Belarus on combat duty, satellite imagery shows base construction