OREANDA-NEWS. December 3, 2008. The “Bulava” sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile will be put in serial production. Last week the Russian Northern Fleet conducted a successful testfire of the missile from the Barents Sea.

Serial production of the ”Bulava” missile for the next generation of Russian strategic submarines is planned to begin in course of the next months. According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov gave this optimistic declaration Monday in the light of the successful testfire of a Bulava missile last week.

In a report to the government about the results, Mr Ivanov said that all the set-up parameters were kept during the test – both the launch from the submarine, the missile’s three stages and the delivery of the warheads. The last point is the most important, because earlier tests have revealed problems connected with separation of the warheads in the finishing part of the missile’s flight.

Chief of General Staff Nikolay Makarov informed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that the flight tests of the Bulava missile will be concluded in 2009, and that purchasing of missiles for the Borey class strategic submarines will begin on December 1.

The first submarine to be equipped with Bulava missiles, is Borey-class nuclear-powered sub “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.