26.11.2008 Russia will test fire another Bulava sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile before the end of November, a source at the Belomorsk Naval Base told the RIA Novosti press agency.
The missile will be fired from the White Sea to the Kura firing ground at the Kamchatka peninsulathe by the Typhoon class nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoy, which has already conducted several successful test fires with this type of missile.
The Bulava is designed for deployment on the new Borey-class nuclear-powered submarines. The first submarine in the series, Yury Dolgoruky was built at the Sevmash plant in Arkhangelsk and is currently undergoing sea trials. It will be equipped with 16 Bulava 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 the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant.
Fourth-generation Borey-class nuclear-powered submarines armed with Bulava missiles will form the core of Russia's fleet of modern strategic submarines. Russia plans to build at least seven $890-million submarines of this class by 2015.