AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
Moscow: Russia will this month test fire a new ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload up to 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) from a submarine, a top scientist with the programme said Friday.
“A new test firing of the Bulava-M missile should be carried out this month. These tests will continue next year,” Yuri Solomonov, chief missile designer at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, was quoted by the Interfax-AVN military news agency as saying.
The Bulava-M would be launched from a “sea platform”, Solomonov said, without specifying further.
Interfax-AVN quoted an unnamed official saying the test would take place December 10.
The missile is intended for firing from submarines and is part of Russia's efforts to upgrade its submarine fleet.
Solomonov said the Bulava-M was capable of carrying at least 10 nuclear warheads.
It is reported to be capable of taking evasive measures to avoid interception — among a range of defensive features.
Its development has repeatedly been delayed however. Solomonov said Friday it was unlikely to be put into service in 2007 as previously planned.
“It all depends on the funding for the tests. Currently, the financing is such that there is little chance the missile can be put into service by the Russian navy in 2007,” he said.
Russia last Tuesday test fired a Topol (RS-12M) missile, a version of a Soviet-built weapon in service for 20 years.
It was fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia and hit its target on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East, officials said.
