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Test of the Bulava sea-launched ballistic missile

On September 23, 2004 the Russian Navy performed a successful test of the “Bulava” sea-launched missile from the “Dmitry Donskoy” submarine of the Project 941 class deployed in White Sea. It was a “pop-up” test, which checked the mechanism that ejects a missile from a launch tube. The test did not seem to involve firing of a rocket motor. It was the second test of this type; the first one was performed on December 11, 2003.

“Bulava” is a solid-propellant missile being developed for strategic submarines of the Project 955 class. Two submarines of this class are currently under construction – “Yuri Dolgorukiy” and “Alexandr Nevskiy”. The “Dmitry Donskoy” submarine, which initially was equipped with a D-39 missile complex with R-39 missiles, was converted into a test bed for the “Bulava” missile during the overhaul that was completed in 2002.

[Navy] [September 23, 2004] []

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On September 27, 2005 a submarine of the Northern Fleet performed a successful launch of the Bulava ballistic missile. The missile was launched from the White Sea and its warhead successfully reached its designated target at the Kura range in Kamchatka.
[First flight test of the Bulava missile] [September 27, 2005 9:16 AM] [#]
On December 21, 2005 the Dmitry Donskoy submarine of the Northern Fleet performed a successful launch of the Bulava ballistic missile from a submerged submarine. It was the second launch of this missile.
[Successful launch of a Bulava missile] [December 21, 2005 10:47 AM] [#]
A flight test of the Bulava ballistic missile attempted today at 19:50 MSK (15:50 UTC) apparently ended in failure. According to a representative of the Ministry of Defense, quoted by ITAR-TASS, the missile strayed off course and fell into the...
[Failed flight tests of Bulava] [September 7, 2006 10:02 AM] [#]
The flight test of the Bulava missile, carried out on October 25, 2006, ended in failure shortly after the launch. This was the fourth full-scale flight test of the missile and the second failure in a row.
[Second failure of Bulava] [October 25, 2006 10:32 AM] [#]
The Russian press is slowly picking up the story about the failed flight test of the Bulava missile that took place on November 12th, 2007.  I thought it would be useful to collect in one place what we know about...
[Bulava test history] [November 20, 2007 11:44 PM] [#]
Bulava missile test history Date Comment 0.1 12/11/03 Success Pop-up test of a mockup of the missile. 0.2 09/23/04 Success Pop-up test. 1 09/27/05 Success(?) First flight test. Launch from a surfaced submarine. Reports about failure of the third stage....
[Bulava] [November 16, 2022 10:01 AM] [#]

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Gazeta.ru reports that there was one more test of this kind, on August 24, 2004, but does not give any sources for this information (http://www.gazeta.ru/2004/09/23/kz_m134464.shtml)

[Pavel Podvig] [September 24, 2004] [#]

More information about the test has been made available. Ivan Safronov of Kommersant reports (Kommersant-Daily, 25 Sep 2004) that the test involved ejection of a full mockup of the "Bulava" missile from a submerged submarine "to a hight of several tens of meters, where the sustainer engine is supposed to start". During the previous test in December 2003 (there was no test in August 2004) the submarine stayed on surface.

Kommersant refers to the "Dmitry Donskoy" submarine as a Project 941UM class submarine. The missile complex installed on it is referred to as D-19M.

As reported by RBC (27 Sep 2004, http://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews.shtml?/20040927132749.shtml), in his remarks about the test President Putin claimed that the "Bulava" missile can be deployed in land-based mode as well.

[Pavel Podvig] [September 27, 2004] [#]

In an article about a visit of Sergey Ivanov to Izhevsk, Izvestia reports that the Bulava missile could be deployed with the Navy as well as with the Strategic Rocket Forces and will carry "no less than ten warheads" (http://news.izvestia.ru/community/news89749).

[Pavel Podvig] [October 20, 2004] [#]

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