Full-scale Bulava tests to resume

25.02.2009
Work to establish the reasons behind the failure of the test launches of the Russian sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile Bulava has been completed, said Army General Nikolay Makarov, the chief of staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

"We have completed work intended to determine the reasons behind the failure of the test launches. I think that all questions have been resolved in the technological field. We resume the whole test-launch cycle this year," Makarov announced at an international defense exhibition in Abu Dhabi.

He expressed hope that this time the test launches will be successful, allowing thereby the Russian Navy to adopt the missile complex.

"I think the Bulava will work, we resolved a lot of questions. I hope that this time it should work normally. Even though, of course, it is hard to foreswear," the general added.

A source in the military-industrial complex had announced earlier that the reason behind the latest failures in test launches of the Bulava had to do with factory defects, not the design of the missile. New tests — tentatively in March - will begin after the defects are removed.

The Bulava is expected to enter service not earlier than 2010. No less than five test launches will be performed aboard the submarine Dmitry Donskoy (SSBN Typhoon-1). If they prove successful, further tests will take place aboard the submarine cruiser Yury Dolgoruky (SSBN Borey-1).

The last - the 10th since 2003 - test launch of the Bulava missile took place on December 23, 2008, aboard the nuclear submarine cruiser Dmitry Donskoy. The missile self-destroyed in flight after a malfunction in the third stage.

Source: ITAR TASS
Translation: RusNavy.com