Article Posted on : - Jan 05, 2009

This is the image Russian information agency RIA Novosti released with the last test of the ICBM

MOSCOW (BNS): Russian General Staff Deputy Chief Col Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn has categorically stated that the country will not give up test launches of the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile.

Speaking here on Sunday, Col Gen Nogovitsyn said that the missile will be a success. “We see what we started from and at which stage of development it is now. This is a big contrast,” he said.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti said that after another failed test launch of the Bulava on December 23, the media and analysts proposed, in particular, that the Bulava test programme be closed.

The fifth failure in ten launches took place on the Dmitry Donskoi strategic nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea, off Russia's northwest coast, targeting the Kura firing ground in Kamchatka, the Far East, the agency said.

RIA Novosti quoting Nogovitsyn said that the reason for the recent Bulava test launch failure was ‘on the verge of production and design solution.’

Meanwhile, the agency quoted Chief of the Russian General Staff, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, as saying last month that production flaws could be the cause of the unsuccessful test launch.

Earlier, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying that the missile would be a key component of Russia's nuclear forces.

The ninth test of the Bulava missile took place on November 28, 2008. It was launched from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine in the White Sea, effectively engaging its designated target on the Kamchatka Peninsula about 6,700 km (4,200 miles) east of Moscow.

According to the agency, Russia had earlier planned to induct the Bulava missile into the Navy in 2009. But, recently, a senior Russian Navy official said that several more test launches had to be conducted this year before a final decision was taken on its induction.

The Bulava (SS-NX-30), carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads and having a range of 8,000 km (5,000 miles), is designed for deployment on Borey-class Project 955 nuclear-powered submarines.