Reply With QuoteThis Bulava is turning into a real nightmare. Surely some heads are going to roll
Russian sub fails to launch Bulava missile
Russian sub fails to launch missile
Friday, October 30, 2009
MOSCOW: Russia’s latest test of its next-generation Bulava missile was aborted when a submarine failed to carry out the launch, in a fresh setback for the project, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
The Dmitry Donskoi, a nuclear-powered sub that had been due to test-fire a Bulava off Russia’s northern coast, returned to its White Sea base without having launched the missile, a source at the naval base told Interfax.
“The main task of the mission, the execution of the Bulava test launch, was not fulfilled,” the source was quoted as saying.
“There are many theories about the event but the reasons can only be announced after an analysis of what happened,” he added. The Bulava, the flagship project in Moscow’s efforts to revamp its ageing Soviet-era missile arsenal, has suffered a string of embarrassing failures, with seven out of 11 tests since 2005 ending unsuccessfully.
Nearly half of the Russian defence ministry’s purchasing budget is devoted to the Bulava programme, according to Russian media reports.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=205944
The missile failed to leave the launch tube
Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
A Russian submarine failed to carry out a scheduled test of the nation's sea-based experimental ballistic missile in the Arctic Ocean, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 15).
The Dmitry Donskoi returned to its base in western Russia without firing the weapon as planned, a naval base source told Interfax.
"The main task of the mission, the execution of the Bulava test launch, was not fulfilled," the source said. "There are many theories about the event but the reasons can only be announced after an analysis of what happened."
The missile, which has failed in six of 11 flight tests, is intended to arm Russia's new Borei-class submarines and to form a key component of Moscow's nuclear deterrent. It is designed to carry as many as 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads up to 5,000 miles.
Moscow has dedicated almost 50 percent of its defense purchasing budget to the weapon's development, Russian news reports have indicated (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Oct. 29).
Meanwhile, a Russian nuclear-capable, short-range ballistic missile unexpectedly broke up during a live-fire exercise yesterday, Interfax reported.
"The missile self-destructed at the height of 1,000 meters (about 3,280 feet)," said Col. Alexei Kuznetsov. The incident involving the unarmed Tochka-U missile was not reported to have caused injuries or any other harm.
An investigation is planned. A second Tochka-U test went off without trouble, the official said.
Developed in 1989, the Tochka-U is a variant of the Soviet-era Tochka missile commissioned in 1976 (Interfax, Oct. 30).
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.or...91030_3645.php
This Bulava is turning into a real nightmare. Surely some heads are going to roll
This seems hard to believe.Originally Posted by seruriermarshal
That is for sure)
Damn this project isnt going too good...
Yup. It was a big mistkae to give this to NII that had no experienced with sea launched missiles. The head of NII has already been fired though. So heads are rolling.
The article is somewhat deceptive. It paints a picture that a launch was conducted, but failed. In reality, no launch was planned at all.
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20091028/156626320.htmlMOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Dmitry Donskoy strategic nuclear-powered submarine returned on Wednesday from a short sea test run to prepare for upcoming test launches of the troubled Bulava missile.
"The sub left the base in Severodvinsk on Monday to test the readiness of the equipment for future launches of the Bulava missile," a Severodvinsk administration official said, without specifying the date for the next test of the missile.
The Typhoon-class submarine, based at a naval facility in northern Russia's Severodvinsk, is the only vessel in service with the Russian Navy capable of testing the new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
The Russian military expects the Bulava, along with Topol-M land-based ballistic missiles, to become the core of Russia's nuclear triad.
However, the Bulava's development has been dogged by a series of setbacks, which has officially suffered six failures in 11 tests.
The latest Bulava failure during the launch from Dmitry Donskoy in the North Sea on July 15 was caused by a defective steering system in its first stage, a defense industry source said on Monday.
The future development of the Bulava has been questioned by some lawmakers and defense industry officials, who have suggested that all efforts should be focused on the existing Sineva SLBM.
But the Russian military has insisted that there is no alternative to the Bulava and pledged to continue testing the missile until it is ready to be put in service with the Navy.
The Bulava (SS-NX-30) SLBM carries up to 10 MIRV warheads and has a range of over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles). The three-stage solid-propellant ballistic missile is designed for deployment on Borey-class nuclear-powered submarines.
The article quoted about makes it seem like an actual launch was planned for this particular deployment and it failed.
Buyer, beware!
Why would the boomer have to leave port to check systems related to missile launch?
Seems a bit confusing.
The article smelled fishy to me when they claimed that half of the Russian military purchasing budget was dedicated to the Bulava.
Perhaps they are being extra careful this time, double-checking everything. This particular launch was actually planned for mid-October, but then cancelled and rescheduled for beginning of November.
Pavel Podvig from the Center for Arms Control Studies reports on matters related to Bulava and other strategic developments fairly accurately. I would suggest following his blog if you want to know the latest details about the launches, planned and executed: http://russianforces.org/blog/
objective reporting on anything Russia is a rare commodity these days. The Tochka-U that failed was a missile that has over stayed its life span before it was launched. Besides, it happened close to a week ago, but they decided to pair it with this report to make it sound like Russian missile tech is just falling apart.
Yeah, two separate missile launch failures with a week of each other should clearly never be mentioned in the same article.
Sounds like Medvedev was right in his complaints.
well as far as i know it seems like a code or software problem. it's bad but not that bad.
and concerning the ss-21 - they will soon be beyond their lifetime anyway. the iskander is the replacement. with longer range and much better features.
Tochka-U was missile was a live-fire drill. old stocks are usually fired off for live-fire drills. The particular missile that failed was a 1989 modification of the ss-21 and has already past it's shelf life. To put it in the same article as the beluva with the obvious intent is poor Journalism cos those two events fall in very different categories IMO.
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