Russia successfully test-fires new seabased ballistic missile

Moscow, June 29 (UNI) The Russian navy has successfully test-fired a new submarine- based intercontinental ballistic missile.

The scheduled launch was conducted from the submerged Dmitry Donskoi, a Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine in the northern Russia's White Sea, and the missile hit the target at the Kura testing grounds on the Kamchatka Peninsula, about 6,700 kms east of Moscow, Russian Navy's spokesman Capt Igor Dygalo told Russian news agencies.

Russia plans to deploy the Bulava ballistic missiles on nuclear submarines beginning 2007.

The missiles are expected to become the mainstay of its Navy's strategic nuclear forces in future.

However, three missile tests failed last year, despite previous successful launches.

Anatoly Perminov, head of the Federal Space Agency, said in December last year that it would take about 12 to 14 test launches to bring it to a state of readiness.

The R-30 Bulava (SS-NX-30) ballistic missile was developed at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology. It can carry upto 10 nuclear warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers.

The Bulava ballistic missile, which is adapted from the Topol-M (SS-27) ICBM, will be deployed on Russia's new Borey-class nuclear missile submarines.

The first Borey-class nuclear submarine, Yury Dolgoruky, was launched April 15 at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region.

Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant, with a fourth submarine on the production schedule list.

UNI