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New Bulava launch in March
02/24/2009Test fires of the new Bulava sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile will probably be resumed in March.
- Investigations show that the failure of the last test fire was caused by faulty factory work, a source in the Russian defence industry told news agency Interfax. No serious technological errors have been registered in the last one and a half years. The reason for the failed launches is either unsatisfactory assembling of the missile, or component parts of poor quality, the source said.
The test launches will be resumed as soon as the bad components have been replaced, probably already in March, the source told Interfax.
It is expected that at least five test fires will be conducted in 2009. Since 2003, Russia has conducted ten test launches of the Bulava missile. Five of the tests have ended in failure.
The first fully successful test of the missile was conducted in November 2008, and First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov optimistically declared that Russia would start serial production of the weapon. A failed test in December put a temporary hold to the plans.
The Bulava carries the NATO reporting name SS-NX-30. It is based on the SS-27 (Topol M), but is both lighter and more sophisticated.
The first submarine to be equipped with Bulava missiles, is the Borey-class nuclear-powered submarine Yury Dolgoruky, which 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 in Arkhangelsk.
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