Russian missile again fails in testing
Source: Agencies |
December 11, 2009, Friday
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RUSSIA admitted yesterday another failed test of its much-touted Bulava intercontinental missile, after unusual lights were spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site.
The submarine-based Bulava (Mace) missile has been billed as Russia's newest technological breakthrough to support its nuclear deterrent, but the repeated test failures are an embarrassment for the government.
The missile failed in its 13th test on Wednesday morning, Russia's leading economic dailies Vedomosti and Kommersant reported on yesterday, quoting sources in the military-industrial complex.
Hours later, the Defence Ministry admitted the failure, saying the launch had been made by the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear submarine from a submerged position in the White Sea.
"It has been established ... that the missile's first two stages worked as normal, but there was a technical malfunction at the next, third, stage of the trajectory," a Defence Ministry spokesman said.
"This is a catastrophe ... Huge funds were siphoned off from Russia's moribund navy for the Bulava project. In fact, billions of dollars have been flushed down the drain," said Alexander Khramchikhin, chief analyst at the Moscow-based Institute of Military and Political Analysis.
Of 11 previous reported tests, at least six have been unsuccessful, including one on July 15 when a Bulava self destructed after a malfunction during the first stage of its flight from the White Sea.
Russia has touted the missile as a unique weapon capable of breaching any air defence and a way to bolster the country's once mighty submarine fleet.
The submarine-based Bulava (Mace) missile has been billed as Russia's newest technological breakthrough to support its nuclear deterrent, but the repeated test failures are an embarrassment for the government.
The missile failed in its 13th test on Wednesday morning, Russia's leading economic dailies Vedomosti and Kommersant reported on yesterday, quoting sources in the military-industrial complex.
Hours later, the Defence Ministry admitted the failure, saying the launch had been made by the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear submarine from a submerged position in the White Sea.
"It has been established ... that the missile's first two stages worked as normal, but there was a technical malfunction at the next, third, stage of the trajectory," a Defence Ministry spokesman said.
"This is a catastrophe ... Huge funds were siphoned off from Russia's moribund navy for the Bulava project. In fact, billions of dollars have been flushed down the drain," said Alexander Khramchikhin, chief analyst at the Moscow-based Institute of Military and Political Analysis.
Of 11 previous reported tests, at least six have been unsuccessful, including one on July 15 when a Bulava self destructed after a malfunction during the first stage of its flight from the White Sea.
Russia has touted the missile as a unique weapon capable of breaching any air defence and a way to bolster the country's once mighty submarine fleet.
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