The test launches will be resumed in June 2012, a military source says to ITAR-TASS.
Russia’s first fourth-generation strategic submarine “Yury Dolgoruky” was planned to fire its first multiple launch today. The planned test would have been the fourth this year and the 18th overall.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov recently warned that the planned multiple launch could be postponed until next spring if the weather conditions are too bad for a launch now, BarentsObserver reported.
In September, following the second successful test-launch of the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that “Yury Dolgoruky” would be delivered to the Pacific Fleet by the end of year. It is reason to believe that the submarine will stay at Sevmash shipyard, were it was constructed, until test launches are
Despite several previous failures, officially blamed on manufacturing faults, the Russian military has insisted that the Bulava will be the main armament of the next generation of strategic submarines.
