Russia announced on Sunday (May 11, 2023) that it successfully conducted a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from a fourth-generation nuclear submarine.
“The new strategic nuclear submarine Kaiser Alexander III. successfully fired the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from the White Sea,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported in a statement.
The missile reached its target, which was at a test site on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East, “at the scheduled time,” he added.
8,000 kilometers and ten nuclear warheads
With a range of 8,000 kilometers and a length of 12 meters, the Bulava (SS-NX-30 in NATO classification) can be armed with ten nuclear warheads.
According to the Russian military, the Borei-class submarine “Kaiser Alexander III” is equipped with 16 Bulava missiles.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons, although Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed caution in this regard on other occasions.
Moscow deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its closest ally, in the summer of 2023.
CTBT withdrawal
The Bulava missile launch, the first in about a year, comes shortly after Putin signed a revocation of his ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
Although this treaty never came into force, the agreement was ratified by 178 countries, including nuclear powers France and the United Kingdom, and has symbolic value.
Supporters say it sets an international norm against nuclear weapons testing, but critics say the deal’s potential will not be realized without ratification by major nuclear powers. JU (afp, rtre)