Article Posted on : - Oct 15, 2010

A file photo

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia has postponed the next test launch of Bulava missiles untill later this year, a media report said.

According to Russia's Armed Forces General Staff, the next test launch of the "troubled" missile, which was set for late October, is now delayed for some internal analysis.

"We still need some time to analyse the results of the previous launch, but it is already clear that the missile performed well," RIA Novosti quoted Gen. Nikolai Makarov, as saying in Moscow.

Recently, Russia has successfully carried out a test launch of the Bulava missile on October 7. Fired from the Russian Navy's Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine in the White Sea, the missile's warhead hit its designated target in the Kura test range in Russia's Far East Kamchatka region.

Russia has scheduled two test launches of the Bulava missile by the end of 2010. The first launch will be carried out from the Dmitry Donskoy submarine and the other from Russia's newest strategic nuclear-powered submarine, the Borey class Yury Dolgoruky, the report said.

The missile, being developed to form the core of Russia’s nuclear triad, carries up to 10 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads.

Designed for deployment on Borey class nuclear-powered submarines, the three-stage solid-propellant ballistic missile has a range of over 8000 kilometers.