Russian navy test-fires submarine-launched missile

MOSCOW – The Russian military says it has successfully test-fired a submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Defence Ministry said the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine launched the Bulava missile Monday from a submerged position in the Barents Sea. The ministry said the missile’s mock warheads reached their designated targets on the opposite side of Russia — the Kura shooting range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Bulava, which has been commissioned by the Russian navy after a long cycle of development, carries six nuclear warheads and has a range of up to 9,300 kilometres (about 5,770 miles).

The Yuri Dolgoruky is the first in a series of Borei-class submarines carrying the Bulava. Russia now has three such submarines, and five more are under construction to gradually replace some of the older Soviet-built ones.