Russia tests Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from new strategic nuclear submarine

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Sunday it has successfully tested a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from its new strategic nuclear submarine, the Imperator Alexander III, Reuters reports.

According to the the Federation of American Scientists, the missile just tested can carry up to six nuclear warheads.

The defense ministry said in a statement that the missile was launched from the Imperator Alexander III in the White Sea off Russia’s northern coast, and hit a target thousands of kilometers away on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East, Reuters reports.

“Firing a ballistic missile is the final element of state tests, after which a decision will be made to accept the cruiser into the Navy,” the ministry statement reads.

The Imperator Alexander III is the seventh of the Russian Project 955 Borei (Arctic Wind) class nuclear submarines, Russian sources have told Reuters. The Borei class has 16 Bulava missiles that have a range of some 8,000 km.

The recent missile testing comes amid Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine, and Russian-US relations at their worst since the Cold War, Reuters notes. Moscow spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement Sunday that the US and Russia would have to resume contact at some point but that currently: “Relations are at zero – or I would say below zero.”

Latest Worthy News