MOSCOW, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The man who designed Russia's new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile said Tuesday nuclear warheads have been completed for another test.
Yury Solomonov told interviewers the nuclear payload will be ready for four Bulava test launches in December, the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
The Bulava missile will be launched from the nuclear-powered submarine Yury Dolgoruky in the second half of the month, Solomonov said.
Russia's military expects the Bulava, along with the Topol-M land-based missiles, to become the core of the country's nuclear triad.
The Bulava SLBM carries up to 10 MIRV warheads and has a range of more than 5,000 miles.
A Bulava missile was successfully test-fired in late October in the White Sea.
It was the second successful firing in a month following several failures that officials blamed on manufacturing faults.
The Russian navy plans to deploy Bulava on the new Project 955 Borei class submarines.
