On August 16, 2005, as part of an exercise of the Russian strategic forces, three Tu-160 strategic bombers conducted a test flight that involved launches of cruise missiles. The next day a submarine of the Northern Fleet performed a successful launch of a sea-launched ballistic missile from Barents sea.

The bombers took off from the Chkalovsky airport near Moscow at and flew to the Pem-boy test range near Vorkuta, where two of the bombers conducted launches of Kh-555 cruise missiles. All four missiles fired during the exercise were reported to be successful. After a five-hour flight, which included in-air refueling, the bombers landed at Olenegorsk airbase at Kola peninsula. During the flight, president Putin of Russia was on board of one of the aircraft.

The launch of a se-based ballistic missile, conducted the next day, was part of an exercise of the Northern Fleet. The launch was performed by the crew of the K-84 “Ekaterinburg” submarine of the Project 667BDRM (Delta IV) class from a submerged position in Barents sea at 11:06 MSK (07:06 UTC, some reports give 11:08 MSK as time of the launch) on August 17, 2005. The missile involved was referred to as “Sineva” – the modification of the R-29RM missile, which was deployed on Project 667BDRM submarines during their most recent overhaul. All warheads reached their targets at the Kura test site in Kamchatka peninsula.