3M14 Bulava (Mace) SS-N-30 / SS-NX-32 - Testing
In total, from 2005 through 2020, about 30 test launches of the R-30 missile had been carried out, about a third of them were accompanied by various technical problems. Trial operation of the missile began in 2013, when the lead missile carrier of Project 955 Borey was accepted into the Russian Navy. In 2018, the Bulava was put into service.
At the beginning of the 1990s. it was planned that the new Russian SSBNs will be installed R-39UTTH ( "Bark") Bureau named. Makeyev (Miass, Chelyabinsk Region.), But their development was discontinued in 1998 due to the test failures and problems with financing. It was decided to start work on a new launch facility. In 1998, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology has started to develop "Bulava". The first publication of a new rocket appeared in 1999. It was originally planned that it will be put into service already in 2004.
Russia successfully conducted surface and underwater pop-up tests of the Bulava missile. The successful launch mass-dimensional layout of the surface and underwater situation took place December 11, 2003 and September 23, 2004, respectively. The 2004 tests entailed the launching of a practice round, the goal being to test the launcher that fires the missile from the submarine's silo. The first successful underwater launch was conducted in September 2004 An exact replica of a real Bulava reached a preset altitude after being launched from the submerged world's largest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), the Dmitry Donskoi.
The first flight test launch was conducted 27 September 2005 from the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine in the Northern Fleet. The missile was launched from the Dmitry Donskoy, a Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine, at 5:22 p.m. Moscow time (1:22 p.m. GMT). "At the estimated elapsed time a dummy warhead hit the designated 'target' at the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula," a navy spokesman said. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov praised this test of the new Bulava missile system. "We focused financial and administrative resources on designing the fourth-generation Bulava system," Sergei Ivanov said. "The Armed Forces will get these weapons by the end of 2007."
On 21 December 2005 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the Bulava ballistic missile had successfully completed its test launch. "The launch has been conducted successfully," Sergei Ivanov said in a report to the Russian President. "The separation of all stages, combat and simulation blocks occurred according to pre-set parameters."
The missile was launched from the submerged Dmitry Donskoy, a Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine, and successfully hit its dummy target at the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East. "What is important is that the submarine was moving [underwater], it was not stationary," the minister said. It is the first test launch of the Bulava missile from a submerged position and the second overall under the trial program.
Ivanov also said the tests of the Bulava missile would continue in 2006. "We are fairly certain that the [Bulava] missile system, and a new submarine to be equipped with it, will be deployed by our navy in 2008," he said [this seems to represent a slight slip from the "end of 2007" reported a few months earlier].
This new-generation missile system, approved at the highest level, veered off course one minute after liftoff on September 7, 2006 and fell into the White Sea. A special governmental commission concluded that the cause of the failure was a malfunctioning control system. Then, on 25 October 2006, another R-30 missile deviated from a preset trajectory and self-destructed. On 24 December 2006, the Bulava missile once again demonstrated its erratic behavior, dropping into arctic waters shortly after launch.
On 28 June 2007 Russia successfully tested the new Bulava (SS-NX-30) sea-based ballistic missile, after several previous failures. Capt. Igor Dygalo told The Associated Press that the Bulava missile hit its target on the Pacific peninsula of Kamchatka, about 6,700 kilometers (4,200 miles) east of Moscow, after being launched in northern Russia's White Sea from the submarine Dmitry Donskoi, a 941 Akula / TYPHOON class submarine outfited in 2005 as the SS-N-30 Bulava test platform.
On 13 August 2007 ShipbuildingRu reported that the Commander of the Russian Navy Admiral, Vladimir Masorin, stated that the tests of the Bulava-M missile will be finished in 2008. With a big degree of assuredness, he publicly stated that the final stage of the tests will be so called maximum distance launching. What it means remained “absolutely secret”.
Through December 2009 the Bulava (SS-NX-30) has had 12 flights with 7 failures among other set backs for this 10 MIRV, three stage solid propellant, 37 metric ton 12 meter long 8,000 km range guided ballistic missile.
On 28 June 2011 and after an 8-month break, Russia resumed test-launches of the Bulava SLBM; launching the missile from the Yury Dolgoruky nuclear powered submarine in the White Sea. The launch was qualified a success with the missile hitting a designated target some 6,000 kilometers to the east and located on the Kura test range in Russia's Kamchatka region. Of 14 perviously conduced test launches, only seven had officially been declared as being successes.
On December 23, 2011, Russia conducted the 18th and 19th test launches of the Bulava SLBMs. The two missiles were launched from the Borey-class Yury Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea and hit targets located at the Kura test range on Kamchatka, some 6,000 kilometers to the east.
Following two successful December 23, 2011 test launches, Russian President Medvedev announced on December 27 that the flight testing phase of the Bulava SLBM was now complete, and the missile would now henceforth be adopted for service with the Russian Navy.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu previously ordered five additional launches of the Bulava missile following the failed launch on 06 September 2013. With the latest flop, eight of 19 or 20 test launches of the Bulava had officially been declared failures. Some analysts suggested the real number may be considerably higher, however.
The Russian Navy postponed any further trials of the troubled submarine-launched Bulava ballistic missile until 2014, Navy Commander Adm. Viktor Chirkov said 13 November 2013. “All plans have been moved to next year in accordance with the schedule of state trials,” Chirkov said at a conference on prospects for military shipbuilding until 2050. Ivan Kharchenko, a first deputy chairman of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission, had said in mid-September 2013 that new test launches of would start later in 2014.
The latest failed launch of Russia’s new submarine-launched ballistic missile was caused by a manufacturing glitch, the Defense Ministry said 20 November 2013. On 06 September 2013, a Bulava missile fired during state trials of the ballistic missile submarine Alexander Nevsky in the White Sea failed in the second minute of flight. A state commission led by the head of the Russian Navy, Admiral Viktor Chirkov, carried out an investigation into the failed launch. “The commission has finished the investigation. The causes of the failure are related to faulty manufacturing of the missile’s nozzle,” Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said at a roundtable conference on state defense contracts held by RIA Novosti. Borisov said the same flaw had been fixed on three remaining missiles in the same production batch, but claimed that production of the missile in general was “technologically sound.”
Russia successfully test-fired a Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from the Borey-class Yury Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine, the Russian Defense Ministry said 29 October 2014. The missile was launched from the submerged submarine at a location in the Barents Sea and hit a designated target at the Kura test range on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, the ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, it was the first operational test launch of Bulava in line with the program of combat training. All previous launches were part of development testing.
Russia successfully test-fired on 28 November 2014 a Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from its Borey-class Alexander Nevsky nuclear-powered submarine. The missile was launched from a designated location the Barents Sea and hit a selected target at the Kura test range on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula.
On June 26, 2017 the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the missile submarine Project 955 "Yury Dolgoruky" the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy made a launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile "Bulava" from the Barents Sea, successfully hitting the target set at the Kura test site (Kamchatka).
In all, from 2005 to 26 June 2017 a total of 27 test launches were made, 12 of them were found to be successful, others were partially successful or unsuccessful: there were failures in the control systems of dispensing ["breeding"] warheads, engines, second and third stages. As a result of the adoption of missiles into service was delayed, despite the fact that the first SSBN class "Boreas" (K-535 "Yury Dolgoruky" K-550 "Alexander Nevsky") in 2013, had joined the Russian Navy. This situation is not unique for the Russian shipbuilding - so the first two submarines of Project 941 "Akula" entered the fleet in 1981 and 1983 and intended for their missile complex D-19 was adopted only in 1984.
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