Russia’s new nuclear-capable Bulava missile has suffered a new failure in testing, which was the likely source of a mysterious light that appeared over Norway, Russian newspaper reports said yesterday.
The submarine-launched Bulava missile was test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine in the White Sea early on Wednesday but failed at the third stage, the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers reported, quoting defense sources.
No further details on the circumstances of the launch were available.
The test was the 13th test-firing of the Bulava and the ninth time that the launch has failed, Vedomosti said.
The missile is central to Russia’s plan to revamp its ageing weapons arsenal but is struggling with development problems.
However the Russian defense ministry declined to comment on the failure or even confirm that the test launch of the intercontinental missile had taken place, the reports said.
LIGHT
Kommersant said the reported test-firing before dawn on Wednesday morning coincided with the appearance of an extraordinary light over northern Norway that captivated observers.
Images of the white light that appeared in the sky above the Norwegian city of Tromso prompted explanations ranging from a meteor, northern lights, a failed missile — or even a UFO.
The White Sea, which is the usual site for such missile tests by Russian submarines, lies close to Norway’s own Arctic region.
ROCKET FORCE
The problems with the Bulava have become an agonizing issue for the defense ministry, which has ploughed a large proportion of its procurement budget into ensuring the missile becomes the key element of its revamped rocket forces.
The previous failure in July had forced the resignation of Yury Solomonov, the director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology which is responsible for developing the missile.
EMBARRASSMENT
The problems are also a major political embarrassment, coming as Russia still negotiates with the US the parameters of a new arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) accord.
The treaty expired on Saturday and despite intense negotiations the two sides have yet to announce agreement on the text of a new agreement.
The Bulava, which can be equipped with up to 10 individually targeted nuclear warheads, has a maximum range of 8,000km
It is the sea-based version of the Topol-M, Russia’s new surface-to-surface intercontinental missile, and designed to be launched from Moscow’s newest Borei class of submarines.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The