#7 - RW 10-1-04 - RW Home
RIA Novosti
September 29, 2004
RUSSIA'S NEW NUCLEAR MACE

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti military analyst Viktor Litovkin)

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has informed President Vladimir Putin about the tests of a dummy Bulava (Mace) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that were held in the White Sea last week.

An exact replica of a real Bulava reached a preset altitude after being launched from the submerged world's largest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), the Dmitry Donskoi.

This was a significant event for Russia's Navy and military-industrial sector. Although, a great deal of time and work is still needed to create the Bulava complex and place it on combat duty, one can confidently say that Russia and its strategic nuclear forces already have a new intercontinental SLBM.

Bulava missiles will be installed on Mk 955 Borei-class SSBNs. The keel of the first such vessel, the Yuri Dolgoruky, was laid down at the Severodvinsk Nuclear Shipbuilding Centre in the Archangelsk region in 1996.

The Yuri Dolgoruky should have entered into service in 2001 as the first of six third-generation submarines that were to replace Mk 941 Typhoon-class SSBNs. However, this did not happen because the development of a solid-fuel ballistic missile, which was to have replaced the obsolete R-39 (RSM-52) SLBM (NATO reporting name, SS-N-20 Sturgeon), was not completed.

The missile's initial three tests were conducted unsuccessfully at a White Sea testing range in the late 1990s. Each time, the missile blew up in mid-air, failing to reach its target.

The Moscow Heat Engineering Institute was ordered to develop a new SLBM, i.e. the Bulava. The Yuri Dolgoruky and the world's largest Typhoon-class SSBN, the Dmitry Donskoi, had to be redesigned accordingly. The missile platform, rather than the missile itself, was the main problem.

Any Russian, US, French or British SSBN uses special propellant charges, cavitators, when it launches missiles from beneath the waves. These cavitators precede the missile, pushing water aside, thereby enabling the missile to move freely.

It is extremely difficult to identify the appropriate clearance between two physical bodies flying out of the water to ensure that the flames of a powder or another charge do not affect the warhead of another. The point is that several nuclear warheads share one multiple independent re-entry vehicle (MIRV). At the same time, the speeds of these two bodies must be synchronised to the highest degree of accuracy to ensure the clearance is not too great. Moreover, the cavitator must fly aside on the surface and let the missile continue to its target.

The difficulties did not only lie in the technical and technological aspects. The project also failed to receive regular budget allocations at the planned levels. This naturally affected the commissioning of the new strategic systems and the smooth running of the missile-production chain. Nonetheless, the new-generation SLBM was developed in record time, despite the problems besetting the Moscow Heat Engineering Institute and the country's military-industrial sector. Financing began in late 1999, and the first successful underwater launch was conducted in September 2004.

Yuri Solomonov, general designer of the Topol-M ICBM and the Bulava SLBM, told RIA Novosti that even the Soviet Union could not develop new weapons systems at this pace despite mass production and almost limitless funds.

Not much is known about the Bulava SLBM, but Moscow has informed the Pentagon about its main specifications in line with bilateral Russian-US agreements. However, nothing has been made public. Nevertheless, two things are clear: the missile uses solid fuel and features several MIRVs. The question remains how many.

It is not difficult to estimate the Bulava's range. Its status as an ICBM means that it can hit targets at least 8,000 to 10,000km away. It also seems that Bulava MIRVs can breach any available or potential ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) system. This is the Moscow Heat Engineering Institute's trademark. President Vladimir Putin mentioned these specifications in February 2004, while visiting the Plesetsk testing range near Arkhangelsk.

One can also say that the Yuri Dolgoruky will carry 12 Bulava missiles, as it has this many silos. Russia's navy is expected to commission the Yuri Dolgoruky in 2005 or 2006 and receive at least two other submarines in this class by 2010. The keel of the second Mk 955 SSBN was laid March 19, 2004 at the Sevmashpredpriyatiye shipyard. It will be named the Alexander Nevsky. And the third SSBN is waiting for its turn.

The successful launch of the submerged Bulava dummy missile shows that the Russian political and military leadership's plans in this field will be successfully implemented. Russia will sail 10 to 12 SSBNs by 2012, with the number of nuclear warheads corresponding to the parameters of the Russian-US Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty.