About 70 new rocket and missile systems will be tested at Russia’s Kapustin Yar test range in 2012, an increase of 150 percent from last year, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

The systems are part of more than 160 ongoing projects, said Col. Vadim Koval, without providing any details.

Last year, more than 500 missile test launches were made at the Kapustin Yar rocket launch and development site, he added.

Almost all the missile and rocket related branches and services of the Russian Armed Forces, including the Strategic Missile Forces, the Air Defense Forces, and the Missile Forces and Artillery conduct their tests at Kapustin Yar, located in the Astrakhan region, between the cities of Volgograd and Astrakhan.