In the White Sea, a new strategic missile carrier (one of the first serial submarines of Project 955, code "Borey") "Yuri Dolgoruky" is under sea trials.
The tests were originally scheduled for the spring of 2011, but for various reasons were postponed until this fall. During the tests, which, according to unconfirmed reports, will last more than two months, in addition to assessing the ship's performance, a salvo launch from an underwater position of a sea-based ballistic missile Bulava-30 was carried out.
In total, the Yuri Dolgoruky missile carrier has 16 missile silos designed to launch missiles from an inclined position, allowing missiles to be launched on the move. According to RIA Novosti, "the launch and flight of the missiles took place in the normal mode, the warheads of the missile arrived at the Kura training ground, which is located in Kamchatka, at the set time." As you know, this is the 17th launch of the R30 3M30 Bulava-30 missiles, 9 of which were officially recognized as successful, the first tests began in 2004, but a large number of unsuccessful launches cast doubt on the feasibility of further work on the development of the P30 3M30. The failures were explained by the violation of technology at numerous stages of the assembly of missiles, and also by the fact that low-quality materials were used for the production of various component parts. Previously, previous launches of such missiles were carried out from the board of the "Dmitry Donskoy" nuclear submarine TK-208 (Project 942U "Akula"), specially created as a carrier of the Bulava missiles.
According to sources in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, two more missile launches are to be carried out, if they turn out to be successful, then it should be expected that the missile will finally be adopted by the Russian fleet. According to the schedule, tests should end in December 2011 or at the very beginning of 2012.
The three-stage solid-propellant ballistic missile "Bulava-30" was designed at the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering specifically for installation on strategic nuclear missile carriers. The general designer of the missile is Yuri Solomonov, he is also the developer of another ballistic missile - the Topol-M ICBM.
Compared to liquid-fueled missiles, the Bulava is certainly inferior to them in terms of dynamic performance, but solid-propellant missiles are better suited for long-term storage than liquid-fueled missiles, which is an important factor when placed on submarine missile carriers. In the event of a depressurization of missile tanks with asymmetric dimethylhydrazine, which is used as fuel on liquid-propellant rockets, or tanks with an oxidizer (nitrogen tetroxide), the consequences can be the most sad, the death of the K-219 nuclear submarine is a vivid example of this.
The beginning of work on the creation of this type of sea-launched missiles falls on 1998. The missile includes 6-10 blocks with nuclear warheads with a capacity of up to 150 kilotons each, equipped with an individual homing system. Each warhead is capable of independently changing its flight trajectory, depending on the assigned target. The maximum flight range is more than 8,000 km, the total launch weight of the rocket is 36.8 tons, of which 18.6 tons are for the first stage engine, the largest diameter is 2 meters, the total length of all stages and the head part is 12.1 meters.
Today, the Russian Navy has several ships capable of carrying Bulava missiles on board, these are nuclear submarines (nuclear submarines) Vladimir Monomakh, Dmitry Donskoy, Yuri Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky, but in the next five years According to the adopted armament program, it is planned to adopt four more submarines of a similar type.
Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that, in general, the replacement of existing liquid-fueled missiles by Bulava many times, at least three times, reduces the nuclear potential of Russia. The fact is that the total drop weight of submarine missile carriers carrying the new Bulava-30 missile on board, due to a significant reduction in payload, is two times less than that of similar foreign projects. In addition, it should be said that the guidance accuracy of the domestic missile and the throw weight are similar to the American missile of a similar class Trident 2 (D5) UGM 133A (Trident), which was adopted by the US Army more than 20 years ago.
Today, according to some reports, the US Navy has 16 carriers of missiles of this class. Our newest Russian "Bulava-30", however, is inferior in some technical and combat parameters to similar Chinese developments and even the old American "Trident", according to experts, the "Trident" has a higher potential for modernization than the "Bulava". in which it is practically exhausted.
