On 28 October 2026 the Russian ministry of defense reported a successful launch of a Bulava SLBM from the Generalissimus Suvorov submarine of the Project 955A/Borey-A class. The submarine is based in the Pacific Fleet. The missile was launched from a submerged submarine deployed in the Sea of Okhotsk. According to the announcement, the warheads "successfully reached the designated area at the estimated time." The "designated area" is almost certainly the Chizha test range on the Kanin Peninsula.

This is the second launch of Bulava from Generalissimus Suvorov. The first one took place in November 2022, when the submarine was undergoing acceptance trials. At that time, the missile was launched from the White Sea to the Kura test range. Generalissimus Suvorov joined the Pacific Fleet in October 2023.

Bulava launches from submarines based in the Pacific are quite rare. The first launch of this kind (a four-missile salvo) was conducted on 12 December 2020. In 2020, the launch took place three days after a strategic exercise. Another Pacific-based submarine that launched its Bulava missile was Knyaz Oleg. This launch, conducted in October 2024, was part of the strategic forces exercise held that year.

There were also reports that pointed to unsuccessful attempts to launch a Bulava missile from the Pacific. There may have been a plan to conduct a launch during the 2019 strategic exercise. This report, however, was based largely on a news story, so one cannot rule out a miscommunication. More credible was a story that suggested a launch attempt in October 2023. At that time, Russia issued a NOTAM that covered the dates of the exercise held on 25 October 2023. However, there was no Bulava launch during the exercise or later.

Although there was no public announcement of the upcoming launch, on 25 October 2026 Russia posted NOTAMs that covered the relevant areas for the 25-31 October 2026 period. It also clearly submitted a notification to the United States, which deployed RC-135S aircraft to observe the launch.