MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Flight development tests of the latest marine-based ballistic missile Bulava will resume in mid-June, Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"Another, the 15th, test launch is expected to take place from the board of the Yury Dolgoruky nuclear-powered strategic submarine," Konashenkov said.
It is expected that there will be five test launches from the White Sea to the Kura firing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, he said.
"If results of test launches are positive, the Russian Navy could put the Bulava missile complex into service in late 2011 or early 2012," Konashenkov said.
"A state commission members of which will be aboard the nuclear-powered submarine will monitor the test launches," he said.
Konashenkov recalled that the previous Bulava launch was made on October 29, 2010 from the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear-powered submarine. The missile's warhead then successfully reached the Kura firing range.
The 15th test launch from the Yury Dolgoruky submarine was slated for December 17, 2010, but was postponed because the submarine was not ready for the launch.
Fourteen previous launches were carried from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine that reequipped specially for them. Seven of 14 tests launches are considered successful or partly successful.
Bulava, or RSM-56, is a sea-based three-stage solid fuel intercontinental ballistic missile designed to arm state-of-the-art Borei class strategic nuclear submarines..
The missile designed by the Moscow Thermal Technology Institute can carry up to ten independently-targetable hypersonic nuclear warheads changing their trajectory and can strike targets within a range of up to 8,000 kilometers.
Bulava is to be one of the core weapons in the Russian strategic nuclear forces in the period up to 2040-2045.