Russian Navy test-fires submarine-launched missile

By

The Associated Press

A new Russian nuclear submarine, the Yuri Dolgoruky, drives in the water area of the Sevmash factory in the northern city of Arkhangelsk on July 2, 2009. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the Sevmash factory, a well-equipped shipbuilding complex that builds and repairs submarines. AFP PHOTO / POOL / ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP/Getty Images)

MOSCOW — The Russian military says it has successfully test-fired a submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Defence Ministry said the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine launched the Bulava missile Monday from a submerged position in the Barents Sea. The ministry said the missile’s mock warheads reached their designated targets on the opposite side of Russia — the Kura shooting range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Bulava, which has been commissioned by the Russian Navy after a long cycle of development, carries six nuclear warheads and has a range of up to 9,300 kilometers (about 5,770 miles).

The Yuri Dolgoruky is the first in a series of Borei-class submarines carrying the Bulava. Russia now has three such submarines, and five more are under construction to gradually replace some of the older Soviet-built ones.