Russia successfully test-fires new Bulava missile

{image-Russia missile_19092008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Moscow, Sep 19: Russian Navy successfully tested a Bulava sea-launched ballistic missile which hit targets on testing grounds in Kamchatka in Russia's Far East.

The Bulava, designed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, is carried by Borey-class Project 955 nuclear-powered submarines. Fourth-generation Borey-class nuclear-powered submarines, armed with Bulava missiles, would form the core of Russia's fleet of modern strategic submarines, RIA Novosti news agency reported yesterday quoting a spokesman for the Defence Ministry. The first submarine in the series, the Yury Dolgoruky, was built at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region and will soon join the Russian Navy.

It will be equipped with 16 Bulava (SS-NX-30) ballistic missiles, each carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads and having a range of 8,000 kilometers. Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant.

UNI