Bulava SLBM Thread:

GarryB wrote:Well the real world performance of the Bulava and Sineva shows Sineva is a much more capable missile.

In a direct comparison the Sineva is 40.3 tons compared to Bulava which is 36.8 tons, but the Sineva carries more warheads further.
Sineva is slightly longer and narrower than Bulava.

At the end of the day the Bulava carries 6 warheads and can throw them 8,000km, while the slightly larger and heavier Sineva can carry 10 warheads and throw them 11,500km.

Bulava might have super lightweight graphite construction or super light warheads, but in practical terms going from Delta IV to Borey means a reduction in reach by 3,500km.

The whole concept of Bulava was that ideal of a standarised missile with a TOPOL-M on land and Bulava naval version at sea.

Throw up weight of any missile is a function of the weight of Nuclear Warhead ,Accuracy, Numbers.

Sineva carries warhead of old generation and are passive warhead. Bulava carries modern warhead and is light weight plus its MIRV is active type.

If I extend your logic then both RS-24 and Topol-M are inferior just because it has a lower throw up weight than Sineva

The range of Sineva and Bulava is the same.

Personally ,Sineva would be a more logical and cost efficent choice.

Though Sineva is a fairly good missile its carrier platform wont last beyond 12 years from now and Delta 4 has its design root in 80's and is already a legacy design.

The whole idea to use liquid fuel no matter how safe they have been proven in the past it is always a ticking time bomb in the sub ready to explode , since the sub has other explosive material like Torpedoes on board.

Solid fuel is quite safe and the right choice and contrary to the problem that Bulava has seen it gives Russian industry a generational leap over any thing they have now. Bulava is a front end of technology and is the right way to move forward.

Failure of Bulava program means failure of Russian Defence Industry to leap forward in technology , that is the key reason why Russian Industry and MOD is persisting with Bulava inspite of so many failures.

GarryB dont go by open source information on range , till the time Sineva was tested to its full range of 11,500 km its official range was quoted as 8000 km every where , Bulava and Sineva has the same range as comfirmed by MITT head Yuri Solmonov.

Well most of the Delta 3 fleet is old and has reached obsolescence that leaves only the 6 capable Delta 4 which are upgraded with Sineva , I would expect atleast 2 of the 6 fleet to be unavailable all the time due to what ever reasons maintenance,scheduled checks etc.

I would expect 4 of Delta 4 to remain operational providing the deterrent.

Next Bulava missile test postponed until later this year
RIA Novosti

19:56 14/10/2010

MOSCOW, October 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will not carry out the next test launch of its troubled Bulava ballistic missile in late October, as was previously planned, the chief of Russia's Armed Forces General Staff said on Thursday.

The latest test launch of the Bulava missile on October 7 was successful. The missile, which was fired from the Dmitry Donskoy submarine in the White Sea, hit its designated target in the Kura test range in Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka region.

"We still need some time to analyze the results of the previous launch, but it is already clear that the missile performed well," Gen. Nikolai Makarov told reporters in Moscow. "The next test launch will be carried out later this year, but not in October."

The Bulava (SS-NX-30), a three-stage liquid and solid-propellant submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), has officially suffered 7 failures in 13 tests.

Bulava test launches were put on hold after a failed launch on December 9, 2009, which was caused by a defective engine nozzle.

Makarov said that the missiles for the next two launches had already been manufactured under the strict supervision of the Defense Ministry, and are ready for testing.

Two test launches of the Bulava are planned before the end of 2010: one from the Dmitry Donskoy sub, and the other from Russia's newest strategic nuclear-powered submarine, the Borey class Yury Dolgoruky.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2010/russia-101014-rianovosti01.htm

Oviously, the more payload is less range. An empty Sineva can go over 10,000km, but once you load it up with warheads the range falls to 8,000km or 6,000km with a full load. The same curve can apply to Bulava. A typical loadout is 4 warheads for an 8k range. The loadout of the Northwinds will be 64 warheads per boat.

Russia carries out another successful test launch of Bulava missile

A test warhead from a Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile successfully hit its target on the Kura test range in Russia's Far East Kamchatka region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.

The missile was fired from underwater from the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea at 5:10 Moscow time (1:10 GMT).

Video of Launch link

That video was reporting the launch, but it was not footage of it. It was Sineva. You can tell because it was liquid fuel.

Reuter's version of the launch

MOSCOW, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Russia successfully carried out a new test of an intercontinental missile on Friday that Moscow hopes to make the cornerstone of its nuclear missile programme.
The military said the 12-metre long Bulava, or Mace, fired from a submarine near Russia's border with Finland, successfully hit its target some 6,000 km (3,370 miles) away in the peninsula of Kamchatka in Russia's far east.
"Today at 5:10 a.m. (the missile) was launched from the submarine Dmitry Donskoi," said Igor Konoshenkov, press officer of the Defence Ministry.
"The launch, from an underwater location, was carried out normally and everything was up to standard," he told Reuters by telephone.
Military analysts saw Friday's test of the Bulava, which had failed seven of 13 previous trials, as a crucial hurdle in proving the reliability of the missile as a mainstay of the Russian army.
Further failures of the missile were expected to prompt fundamental changes to the costly project.
The Bulava missiles, which weigh 36.8 tonnes and can travel a distance of 8,000 km, are designed to be fitted on the Russian Borei class of submarines.
One missile can hold 6-10 nuclear warheads, which would deliver a impact of up to 100 times the atomic blast that devastated Hiroshima in 1945.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told RIA news agency six more successful tests of the rocket were needed before it would be ready for use in the navy. .....

successful Bulava launch

Ivanov has mentioned that it needs 6 sucessful launches for it to be accepted by Navy , so one for launch probably from YD by end of this year and 3 launches planned for until middle of next year.

I can bet the first 3 launches will test the reliability of Bulava design and will put the missile through different trajectories each launch more complicated then the previous one.

The final 3 launch will test the reliability ,repeatability of its performance as needed by military plus these will be production model so these will be serial production models and will throw any problem that comes with serial production

I still feel these missile are carefully built and does not really solve the production issue that it will face once it enters serial production , hope they put in lot of money to solve it and audits all the 620 suppliers of Bulava

I believe the problem is solved. Two successful launches by only watching the manufacturing process indicates it was indeed poor quality control. This missile is based on Topol so it should have worked period.

Besides it was the only two lounches from submerged position.

Vladimir79 wrote:I believe the problem is solved. Two successful launches by only watching the manufacturing process indicates it was indeed poor quality control. This missile is based on Topol so it should have worked period.

Quite likely that is the case but its not over the bridge yet.

Bulava is made by the same design bureau MITT that made Topol-M , but its not based on Topol its a new missile with new design and characteristics

It is a navalised version of Topol-M.

The Bulava (SS-NX-30) is the submarine-launched version of Russia’s most advanced missile, the Topol-M (SS-27) solid fuel ICBM. The SS-NX-30 is a derivative of the SS-27, except for a slight decrease in range due to conversion of the design for submarine launch. The SS-27 is 21.9 meters long, far too large to fit in a typical submarine.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/3m14.htm

Vladimir79 wrote:It is a navalised version of Topol-M.

The Bulava (SS-NX-30) is the submarine-launched version of Russia’s most advanced missile, the Topol-M (SS-27) solid fuel ICBM. The SS-NX-30 is a derivative of the SS-27, except for a slight decrease in range due to conversion of the design for submarine launch. The SS-27 is 21.9 meters long, far too large to fit in a typical submarine.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/3m14.htm

No its a myth that has been carried too long , Topol-M and Bulava has nothing to do with each other except for the fact that it has been designed by same design bureau.

Bulava has been designed from scratch and its a new SLBM using new technologies ( all carbon composites ) and it achieves a very lighter weight , has the same throw up weight as Topol-M/RS-24 and has the same range as Sineva.

The only thing it would perhaps share with MIRV'd Topol-M i.e. RS-24 is the manouverable warhead , as they both have almost identical throw up weight.

Bulava Consolidates Test Progress

Russia’s new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile conducted another, 14th, successful trial on October 29, reported the Russian Defense Ministry. Similar to the previous successful trial on October 7, this time the missile was again fired from a submersed position by the Typhoon class Dmitry Donskoy submarine in the White Sea to the test range Kura on the Kamchatka peninsula.

Now Bulava has seven successful launches of a total 14 trials. This year the Russian military plans to have one more launch from the new Borei class Yuri Dolgoruky sub that is designed to be the in-service carrier of these missiles. The Defense Ministry earlier explained that three launches in a row with the missiles assembled at one time are needed to eliminate the manufacturing defects which caused the previous test failures.

According to the first deputy defense minister Vladimir Popovkin, the missile will be tested until the reliability ratio of 0.98-0.99 is reached. The Russian first vice premier Sergey Ivanov was cited by RIA Novosti, saying that apart from the remaining launch in 2010, five more test firings are planned for the next year. “It’s evident that there is no engineering mistake”, he hurried to say, adding that the reason for previous failures was manufacturing defects.

Great news for Bulava fans(count me as one also)
Can anybody tell me what BULAVA actually means??

It means MACE

Vladimir79 wrote:It means MACE

You mean a chemical MACE??

No, this.