- 29 Oct 2010 20:56
#13537745
...But will it fly again?
Thats what must be on the mind of everyone involved as the troubled submarine launched ballistic missile clears its second test flight after the program was brought under review after a series of public and confidence shaking faliures. This was Bulava's 14th test firing and the 7th successfull test, the batch of tests currently in progress are using a group of missiles that were contructed in parellel and under very exacting conditions. The process has allowed Russia to determine if missile design or production problems (as suspected) are at fault and it would seem that the process has paid off.
In a way I suppose this is not too suprising consideing the rush to put Bulava into service and the storys about shortcuts and the inexperiance of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology running around. But at least in the end MITT and Solomonov can feel vindicated in that they appear to have produced a valid design and with a successful testing of a 1987 vintage Topol and two of Makayev's R-29 series the missile forces and Navy can celetrate tonight.
After the final of the three tests and perhaps three additional tests in 2011 the Bulava program will get a final yay or nay from the goverment and it seems to be on its way to achieving that so fingers crossed....
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20101029/161133289.html
Thats what must be on the mind of everyone involved as the troubled submarine launched ballistic missile clears its second test flight after the program was brought under review after a series of public and confidence shaking faliures. This was Bulava's 14th test firing and the 7th successfull test, the batch of tests currently in progress are using a group of missiles that were contructed in parellel and under very exacting conditions. The process has allowed Russia to determine if missile design or production problems (as suspected) are at fault and it would seem that the process has paid off.
In a way I suppose this is not too suprising consideing the rush to put Bulava into service and the storys about shortcuts and the inexperiance of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology running around. But at least in the end MITT and Solomonov can feel vindicated in that they appear to have produced a valid design and with a successful testing of a 1987 vintage Topol and two of Makayev's R-29 series the missile forces and Navy can celetrate tonight.
After the final of the three tests and perhaps three additional tests in 2011 the Bulava program will get a final yay or nay from the goverment and it seems to be on its way to achieving that so fingers crossed....
The decision to put Russia's Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile into service will be made by the country's leadership and only after the test program is complete, a government source said on Friday.
"After the three test launches planned for 2010, another series of tests will follow in the first half of 2011. A decision on the fate of the missile will only be made after that," the source said.
"The final decision on putting the missile into service will be made by the country's leadership, based on a report by the defense minister," the source added.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who oversees the country's defense industry, said another six successful test launches were needed for the missile to be put into operation, including one launch from a new submarine.
A Bulava missile was successfully test fired earlier on Friday from a submarine in the White Sea, reportedly hitting a target on the Kura test range in Russia's Far East Kamchatka region some 6,000 kilometers to the east.
It is the second successful firing in a month, coming after a series of embarrassing failures. Only 5 of the previous 12 launches were officially declared successful, although some military experts say that many of those were also flawed.
Previous failures were officially blamed on manufacturing faults.
The Russian military expects the Bulava, along with Topol-M land-based ballistic missiles, to become the core of Russia's nuclear triad.
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.
The missile will enter service when it is 100 percent reliable, Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti)
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20101029/161133289.html
- By skinster
- By Tainari88