The Russian Defence Ministry yesterday confirmed that the next test launch of the missile will be conducted this month, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes. For the first time the launch will be conducted from the submarine the missisle is designed for; the Borei-class “Yury Dolgoruky”. Russia plans to launch a total of five Bulava missiles in 2011.
If the launches are successful, the missile will be taken into service in the end of 2011 or beginning of 2012.
This will be the fifteenth (or sixteenth, the numbers vary from source to source) test launch of the Bulava missile. Half of the tests have failed.
Read all BarentsObserver articles on the Bulava missile
The two last, and successful, tests took place in late October 2010. All the tests have so far been carried out from “Dmitri Donskoy” - a Typhoon-class submarine rebuilt into a test-platform for the Bulava missile.
After the successful October tests, the missile designers said more tests would take place in December, but then from the submarine the Bulava is designed for; the Borei-class. The tests were cancelled and the submarine was recalled to the Svemash shipyard for inspections and corrections.
“Yury Dolgoruky” was ready to be put on water again for continued testing in late May 2011, ARMS-EXPO reports.
