Russia's strategic nuclear submarine Yuri Dolgoruky, basing in the White Sea, has successfully conducted a launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile Bulava to a maximum distance, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
"The regular launch of the missile was conducted at 7:20 a.m. Moscow time from a submerged position from the regular carrier in line with the state flight development tests at a maximum flight range of the missile," the spokesman said.
He added that the missile had successfully reached its target in the Pacific Ocean in accordance with all the necessary shipping security measures.
This is the 16th launch of the Bulava missile. Only eight of the previous 15 test launches were successful.
The first test launch of the Bulava from the Yuri Dolgoruky was conducted on June 28, 2011. Before that the missiles were fired from the Typhoon class Dmitry Donskoy submarine.
The Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine-launched ballistic missile carries up to 10 MIRV warheads and has a range of over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles). The three-stage missile is specifically designed for deployment on Borey class nuclear submarines.
