Russia test fires troubled Bulava missile after 8-month break

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED June 29, 2011

Russia resumed tests of its troubled Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

It was launched from the Yury Dolgoruky nuclear powered submarine in the White Sea, Col. Igor Konashenkov said.

The launch - 15th in the Bulava's history - was successful "by all parameters," he said, adding that it hit a designated target on the Kura test range in Russia's Far East Kamchatka region some 6,000 kilometers to the east.

The previous test was conducted on October 29, 2010.

Only seven of the previous 14 launches were officially declared successful, although some military experts say that many of those were also flawed.

Despite several previous failures, officially blamed on manufacturing faults, the Russian military has insisted that there is no alternative to the Bulava.

The Bulava (SS-NX-30) SLBM carries up to 10 MIRV warheads and has a range of over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles). The three-stage ballistic missile is designed for deployment on Borey-class nuclear submarines.

Topics: Russia

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