8th Missile Division
Designations and Identification
The 8th Missile Division of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) is publicly identified in Russian sources as military unit 44200. The 76th Missile Regiment is identified as military unit 49567 and is reported in open sources as a subordinate formation within the 8th Missile Division. These designations appear consistently across Russian registries and media references and are used in official and semi-official communications to denote the respective headquarters and regimental units.
Command Subordination and Organizational Role
The 8th Missile Division is part of the RVSN’s 27th Guards Missile Army, which oversees several mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) formations in the western and central portions of Russia. Within this structure, the 76th Missile Regiment operates under the division’s command, performing the core regimental functions of road-mobile ICBM deployment, training, and readiness. The division-level headquarters provides operational control, logistics, maintenance, and training support to its missile regiments and associated technical, security, and communications elements.
Location Analysis
Open sources place the 8th Missile Division’s garrison in or near Yurya, Kirov Oblast, Russian Federation. The surrounding region is characterized by extensive forested terrain, a dispersed road network, and a continental climate with long winters—features that are compatible with the concealment, dispersal, and field operations typical of road-mobile ICBM units. The area benefits from regional road and rail links that support heavy logistics, while the local terrain and vegetation provide natural cover for mobility exercises and camouflage.
Subordinate Formation: 76th Missile Regiment (military unit 49567)
The 76th Missile Regiment functions as a road-mobile ICBM regiment within the 8th Missile Division. In line with standard RVSN practice, a regiment comprises multiple launch battalions and organic support elements, including technical, communications, engineering, logistics, medical, and dedicated security subunits. Its mission set includes maintaining continuous combat readiness, conducting field patrols and dispersal to pre-surveyed positions, executing command-and-control drills, and performing missile system maintenance and training cycles under divisional oversight.
Equipment Portfolio and Technical Characteristics
The 8th Missile Division historically operated the RT-2PM Topol (SS-25) road-mobile ICBM and, in line with RVSN-wide modernization, has been associated in public reporting with the RS-24 Yars (SS-27 Mod 2) road-mobile ICBM. RT-2PM Topol is a three-stage solid-fuel missile with an approximate range of about 10,500 km, a single warhead, and deployment on the MAZ-7917 14x12 TEL. RS-24 Yars is a three-stage solid-fuel missile with a reported range on the order of 11,000+ km, multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), and deployment on the MZKT-79221 16x16 TEL. Precise missile allocations and quantities by regiment are not publicly disclosed.
Infrastructure and Support Capabilities
A division-level road-mobile ICBM garrison typically includes hardened vehicle shelters and maintenance bays for transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) and support vehicles; a missile technical base for missile preparation and handling; fuel, lubricant, and spare-parts storage; communications facilities and antenna fields; training areas for fieldcraft, camouflage, and CBRN defense; and layered physical-security perimeters. Rail and heavy-road access support the staging and sustainment of TELs and associated engineering and logistics assets. Family housing and administrative facilities are standard for permanent basing.
Operational Activity and Training Patterns
RVSN road-mobile units conduct recurring training that includes off-garrison dispersal to field positions, concealed maneuver on designated routes, counter-sabotage and perimeter-defense drills, encrypted communications exercises, and CBRN protection training. Russian Ministry of Defense announcements regularly cite such activities for mobile ICBM units in Kirov Oblast, consistent with the 8th Missile Division’s basing. These evolutions stress readiness under electronic warfare conditions, rapid deployment, route preparation by engineering teams, and sustained operations in austere environments.
Security, Custody, and Safety Protocols
Missile regiments and divisions maintain dedicated security battalions, access controls, and patrol patterns around garrisons and field deployment areas. Nuclear warhead custody and handling in the Russian system involve specialized technical units and oversight by the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense; detailed procedures, storage locations, and transfer timelines are classified. Safety protocols encompass controlled handling of solid-fuel systems, compliance with established RVSN technical orders, and redundant command-and-control authentication measures.
Strategic Context and Arms-Control Considerations
The 8th Missile Division and its regiments contribute to Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent as part of the mobile ICBM force designed to enhance survivability and second-strike capability through dispersion and concealment. Under the New START Treaty, Russia historically declared aggregate numbers of deployed launchers and warheads but did not publicly release unit-level inventories. In February 2023, Russia announced the suspension of its participation in New START; while it has indicated adherence to certain limits, inspections and detailed notifications ceased, and current unit-specific holdings are not publicly verified.
Information Availability and Classification
Exact orders of battle, current missile counts, warhead allocations, alert postures, internal site layouts, and detailed readiness metrics for military unit 44200 (8th Missile Division) and military unit 49567 (76th Missile Regiment) are not publicly released and are assessed as classified. Open-source information supports the identification, command relationships, general location, mission sets, and typical equipment types as described above, but granular, current-force details at the regiment and division level cannot be confirmed from public data.