Article Posted on : - Oct 09, 2010

A file photo

MOSCOW (BNS): Buoyed over the latest successful launch of its Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) this Thursday, Russia now plans to carry out more tests of the weapon system.

The next test launch of the "troubled" missile is preliminarily set for late October, RIA Novosti said.

"The commission will review the success of the previous test launches in order to work out the date of the next Bulava launch," a source in the test commission was quoted as saying by the news agency.

The ICBM passed its 13th test-launch successfully on Thursday. Fired from the Russian Navy's Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine in the White Sea, the missile's warhead hit its designated target in the Kura test range in Russia's Far East Kamchatka region.

Russia is developing the Bulava to equip its military with advanced defence capabilities and making it resistant to missile-defence systems.

The three-stage solid-propellant ballistic missile, with a range of over 8,000 kilometers, carries up to 10 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads. It is being developed for deployment on Russia's Borey class nuclear-powered submarines.