Friday, October 30, 2009
MOSCOW: Russia’s latest test of its next-generation Bulava missile was aborted when a submarine failed to carry out the launch, in a fresh setback for the project, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
The Dmitry Donskoi, a nuclear-powered sub that had been due to test-fire a Bulava off Russia’s northern coast, returned to its White Sea base without having launched the missile, a source at the naval base told Interfax.
“The main task of the mission, the execution of the Bulava test launch, was not fulfilled,” the source was quoted as saying.
“There are many theories about the event but the reasons can only be announced after an analysis of what happened,” he added. The Bulava, the flagship project in Moscow’s efforts to revamp its ageing Soviet-era missile arsenal, has suffered a string of embarrassing failures, with seven out of 11 tests since 2005 ending unsuccessfully.
Nearly half of the Russian defence ministry’s purchasing budget is devoted to the Bulava programme, according to Russian media reports.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
