Bulava missile ready to be deployed
December 27th, 2011 - 7:22 pm ICT by IANSMoscow, Dec 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The flight tests of the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile have been completed and it will now be adopted for service with the Russian Navy, President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday.
“We have made a very important step, we have completed the cycle of flight tests of the Bulava missile. Now it will be put into service,” he said.
Russia successfully test-launched two Bulava missiles Friday.
The missiles were launched from the Borey-class Yury Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea and hit designated targets at the Kura test range on Kamchatka, some 6,000 km to the east.
They were the 18th and 19th test launches of the troubled Bulava. Only 11 launches have been officially declared successful.
But some analysts suggest that in reality the number of failures was considerably larger.
Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer said that of the Bulava’s first 12 test launches, only one was entirely successful.
Despite several previous failures, officially blamed on manufacturing faults, the Russian military has insisted that there was no alternative to the Bulava.
The Bulava (SS-NX-30), developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology since 1998, carries up to 10 warheads and has a range of over 8,000 km. The three-stage ballistic missile is designed for deployment on Borey-class nuclear submarines.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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