Updated 3:12 p.m. Moscow time
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) – The third and final launch this year of the Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) will take place in the final week of November from the Alexander Nevsky nuclear submarine, a high-ranking official from the Russian military-industrial complex announced Monday.
“There will be two more launches of the Bulava [submarine-launch ballistic] missile by the end of the year. One launch will be held in the last week of October from the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear submarine, and the last one will be in the end of November from the Alexander Nevsky,” the official said.
He said the submarines would launch the missiles from the White Sea with a trajectory toward the Kura Range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
In September, a Bulava missile was successfully test-fired from the Borey-class Vladimir Monomakh nuclear-powered submarine.
The three-stage Bulava SLBM carries up to 10 independent warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers (about 5,000 miles).
Bulava testing has encountered several failures in the past. In September 2013, during trials of the Aleksander Nevsky nuclear submarine a Bulava rocket malfunctioned. Following this incident, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered five additional launches of Bulava missiles.
Despite the test failures, the Russian military insisted there was no alternative to the Bulava as the main armament for Russia's new Borey-class strategic missile submarines that are expected to become the backbone of the Russian Navy's strategic nuclear deterrent force.
