The missile was launched from the Russian Fleet’s first fourth-generation strategic submarine “Yury Dolgoruky” from submerged position in the White Sea on Saturday morning.
In line with state flight development tests the launch was conducted at maximum flight range of the missile, Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov informed President Dmitry Medvedev, RIA Novosti reports.
The success will be a major boost for the Russian armed forces after a similar successful test from Yury Dolgoruky on June 28. The Bulava had become one of the Russian military’s biggest headaches after a series of failed tests in previous years raised questions about its future viability.
Russia has now carried out 16 tests of the Bulava, seven of which ended in failure. The most embarrassing setback was in late 2009 when the missile’s failure caused spectacular images in the sky above the Northern Norway.
After the first test-launch of a Bulava missile from “Yury Dolgoruky” it was said that also the second submarine in the Borey-class, the “Aleksander Nevsky” would conduct a test launch later this year. Later a Defence Ministry official said that there will be no test-shooting of the missile from “Aleksander Nevsky” this year. The submarine is undergoing factory testing at Sevmash and missile tests will not take place until spring 2012, BarentsObserver reported.
Read all BarentsObserver articles on the Bulava missile
