The Russian Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) classified military satellite has successfully launched aboard a medium-class Soyuz-2.1B carrier rocket.

Believed to be an early warning anti-missile system, the payload has been placed into orbit, according to media reports.

The Soyuz-2.1B vehicle was launched from the state test cosmodrome of the MoD, known as Plesetsk cosmodrome, in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region.

According to information released by the MoD’s Directorate of Media Service and Information, all pre-launch operations and the space vehicle’s launch took place in normal mode.

The launch and flight of the rocket were controlled by the Russian orbital group’s ground-based automated control complex for spacecraft.

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Around two minutes after the launch, the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle was accepted for escort by ground-based controls of the Herman Titov Main Test Space Center.

The Russian Federation Defence Ministry noted that the spacecraft launch into the calculated orbit by the ‘Fregat upper stage’ will take a couple of hours.

The early warning satellite will join the other existing spacecraft in the orbit. The satellites detect and provide information to the Russian military on potential ballistic missile launches towards the country.