MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) - A new multiple-warhead missile system armed with Topol-M multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) will go into service in Russia's Armed Forces soon, a first deputy prime minister said.

Sergei Ivanov said the Topol-M missile complex currently exists in two modifications - mobile and fixed-site.

"I very much hope that it will appear in its MIRV modification in the very near future," he said.

Russia will operate 48 fixed-site Topol-M (NATO reporting name SS-27) ballistic missiles by the start of 2008, a Strategic Missile Forces spokesman said on Monday.

The missile forces said previously that the system will be equipped with MIRV in the next two or three years, and that the new system will help penetrate missile defenses more effectively.

As of December 2006, Russia's SMF operated 44 silo-based and three mobile Topol-M missile systems.