Languages

Bombers and submarines launch cruise missiles

War-games at sea and in air over the Barents Region.

Location

A supersonic Tu-160 strategic bomber launched six cruise missiles that hit targets at the Pemboi range in the northern part of the Komi Republic, the Ministry of Defence reported early Friday morning. The aircraft, based at the Engels airbase north of Moscow, made an eight hours flight during as part of the on-going exercise Centre-2015.

In the Barents Sea, two Oscar-II class nuclear powered submarines on Thursday launched cruise missiles from their underwater positions. The missiles hit targets on the sea, the Ministry of Defence says in another report.

The two submarines, “Smolensk” and “Voronezh” are of similar design as the “Kursk” submarine that sank northeast of Murmansk during an exercise in August 2000.

Russian media, including Sputniknews, reported last month with high ranking Navy sources that the Borei-class submarine “Vladimir Monomakh” would launch an intercontinental Bulava missile later this year.

On Monday this week, “Vladimir Monomakh” returned to the naval yard in Severodvinsk after a four days voyage in the White Sea. According to the blog site Russian strategic nuclear forces, Russia had made notifications indicating that the sub would launch a Bulava missile sometime between the 11th and the 15th of September. The blog site speculate that since there was no reports of the launch, it could be assumed that something did not go according to the plan.