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.
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