Russia To Test-Fire Bulava Ballistic Missile From Nuclear Submarine On Nov. 30: Report

Russia will test-fire its Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from the Alexander Nevsky, a nuclear-powered submarine, on Sunday, Nov. 30, the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, also known as TASS, reported Thursday.

According to the report, based on “a source in the Northern Fleet headquarters,” the nuclear-powered submarine will make a single test-launch of the Bulava missile in the Barents Sea on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East.

“According to updated reports, the Alexander Nevsky is due to test-launch Bulava in a time interval between 12.00 and 3pm Moscow time (9am-12.00 GMT) on November 30,” the military source told TASS. “The test-launch will be made from the Barents Sea at the Kura firing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula from a submerged position.”

A spokesperson for Russia’s Defense Ministry had said earlier this month that the Bulava missile will be launched from the Alexander Nevsky submarine before the end of this year. The spokesperson also said that Russia would conduct two more tests of the sea-based Bulava missiles in 2015, TASS reported.

Last month, another Russian nuclear submarine, the Yuri Dolgoruky, test-fired a Bulava missile from an underwater position in the Barents Sea. The missile successfully reached its selected targets at a testing range in the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Associated Press reported.

The Bulava missiles can hit targets as far away as 5,000 miles, and can reportedly cause a blast 100 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.