MOSCOW: Russia on Friday morning successfully test launched a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile, the 14th test launch and the seventh success, the country’s Defense Ministry said.
The missile was fired from the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea at 05:10 am Moscow time (0110 GMT), and the warhead successfully hit its target on the Kura test range in Russia’s Far East Kamchatka region, the RIA Novosti agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying.
According to a source from test flight commission, Russia was scheduled to conduct three Bulava tests in late 2010. Friday’s test was the second successful one.
The first test launch of these three submarine-launched ballistic missiles was also successfully conducted on Oct. 7. The warhead hit its target in the Kamchatka region.
The Bulava missile, a three-stage, liquid and solid-propellant, submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), was designated for the fourth generation submarines of Project 955 Borei. However, it has officially suffered seven failures in the last 13 test launches.
The missile with a range of 8,000 km was designed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering and is capable of carrying up to ten supersonic maneuvering re-entry vehicles.
The Russian military hoped the Bulava program, along with Topol-M land based ballistic missiles, would become the backbone of the country’s strategic forces.
