Salvo of four Bulava missiles hit test range on Kanin Peninsula
The dummy-nuclear warheads all reached their designated targets at a test range on the coast to the eastern Barents Sea, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.
It was the Pacific Fleet submarine Vladimir Monomakh, from submerged position in the Sea of Okhotsk, that launched the salvo on December 12, the ministry says in a statement.
Chizha test range is on the Kanin Peninsula in Nenets Autonomous Okrug and is a well-known target area for submarine-launched ballistic missiles from the waters of Russia’s Far East.
Saturday’s nuclear wargame is the second time after the breakup of the Soviet Union a ballistic missile submarine launches a salvo of four missiles. The missiles were fired one-after-the-other with a few seconds in between, the video from the Defense Ministry shows.
In May 2018, the Northern Fleet submarine Yury Dolgoruky launched a similar salvo of four Bulava missiles, then the other way across the Arctic, from the White Sea towards the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
On August 6, 1991, the Northern Fleet’s Delta-IV submarine Novomoskovsk performed a full salvo underwater launch, launching all 16 SS-N-23 missiles on board. The whole salvo took 3 minutes and 44 seconds, with a 14-second interval between launches. During this time the submarine expelled more than 650 tons of weight. The 1st and the 16th missiles hit their targets at Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, while the rest were self-destructed in flight.
Vladimir Monomakh is one of four Borei-class submarines in operation, of which two sail for the Pacific Fleet and two for the Northern Fleet. Another four of the class is currently under construction at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk, as previously reported by The Barents Observer. Each Borei-class sub can carry 16 ballistic missiles, each armed with four to six nuclear warheads.
The four-salvo launch on Saturday came just three days after Russia exercised its nuclear triad with a land-launched missile from Plesetsk, a submarine-launched missile from the Barents Sea, and cruise-missiles launched over the northwestern regions of the country from long-range bombers.
