Russian ballistic missile test fails once again
'Pakistan Times' Foreign Desk

MOSCOW: An experimental Russian ballistic missile veered off its course shortly after having been launched from a Russian nuclear submarine and fell into the sea in its second consecutive launch failure, officials said.

The Bulava missile was launched from the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine in the White Sea toward a testing range on the far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, but it veered off its designated flight path minutes after the liftoff. The missile self-liquidated and its fragments fell into the sea, the navy said in a statement.

The botched launch signaled serious problems with the much-lauded Bulava.

The previous Bulava launch, from the same submarine on Sept. 7, also ended in failure, prompting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to urge quick action to prevent the mishap from damaging plans for commissioning new Borei-class submarines.

Three such submarines currently under construction are to be equipped with Bulava.

"The failure means that the entire new class of submarines has no missile to be equipped with," Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst, said. "That's a big problem for the military."●