Bulava missile, USA News (London, United Kingdom): This week a large, state-of-the art, nuclear-capable Russian missile emerged from the freezing-cold Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan, blazing into the dark sky. Russia’s Ministry of Defence made no secret of the launch on Wednesday, uploading to social media a video complete with stirring music and a close-up of a finger pressing the launch button. The MOD boasted that the missile’s warheads successfully reached the designated area at the estimated time: the Chizha test range at Cape Kanin on the eastern coast of the Kanin Peninsula in northern Russia, a few hundred miles from Norway and Finland. It did not say when the test occurred. The target is a common one for Russian missile tests but the timing of the announcement was curious: barely 24 hours after the president of Finland and prime minister of Norway held tense talks with Vladimir Putin calling for de-escalation in Ukraine – and soon after it was revealed that the UK has an unusual number of its nuclear deterrent submarines at sea.
While Russia’s missile landed on Europe’s doorstep, experts said it was not just a message to Nato: Putin may also have wanted to put the USA, Korea and Japan on notice. The test may be routine, but it sends a signal to the West, according to defence analyst Malcolm Davis, who interpreted it as sabre rattling demonstrating the capability to intimidate and deter.
What is a Bulava missile?
The Bulava is a new Russian submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that, like the UK’s Trident missiles, is designed to be launched from underwater. It entered into official service in 2024 after two decades of tests. About 12m long and 2m in diameter, it can fly more than 8,000km, roughly the distance from London to Beijing. Russia has claimed its maneuverability makes it invulnerable to anti-ballistic missile defence systems.
The SLBM test launch occurred off Russia’s far east coast. It can carry at least six nuclear warheads, which separate in flight to hit individual targets with an accuracy of a few hundred metres. Each warhead is reportedly more than 100kt, or more than six times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. There have been 35 documented test launches of unarmed Bulava missiles; before this week, the most recent was in October 2024, and the one before that was in November 2023. The last ten tests, since June 2017, were judged successful in hitting their targets. Russia reportedly has more than 120 Bulavas deployed on eight submarines.
What is a Borei-A class submarine?
The K-553 Generalissimo Suvorov, which launched this week’s test missile, is the country’s third of its Borei-A class submarines, commissioned just under four years ago. They are replacing Soviet-era submarines as the core of Russia’s nuclear deterrent. Designed in St Petersburg, Borei-A submarines carry 16 Bulava missiles, Tass reported.
The test was important for Russia to verify and validate its sea-based nuclear deterrent capabilities, especially that of the Pacific Fleet, said Raji Rajagopalan, a senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Most of Russia’s Borei-A submarines are based with its Pacific Fleet, which is considered a key strategic deterrent in the Asia-Pacific, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, told Tass in August. They project security capabilities not only to our borderlands and nearby waters, but also de facto provide a strategic umbrella for our closest regional allies – North Korea and China – providing strategic capabilities for jointly deterring US aggression, Stepanov said, noting that Pacific Fleet maneuvers serve as Russia’s primary platform to demonstrate its deterrence capabilities, including nuclear options.
Credible deterrent
Analysts say locating the submarines in remote seas north of Japan helps protect them from Nato detection, so they remain an effective deterrent. The missile test was more than just a technical exercise, according to Erwan Halna du Fretay, a defense analyst with Army Recognition Group in Belgium, who noted that such launches serve several functions including training crews, verifying weapon systems and demonstrating the credibility of deterrent capabilities.
He pointed out that France launched an unarmed nuclear-capable M5 missile from its submarine Le Vigilant earlier in October, adding that regular demonstrations contribute to the strategic credibility of nuclear-armed states. In Russia’s case, this political dimension carries particular weight because of the war in Ukraine and continuing tensions with European Nato members. Moscow has repeatedly referred to its nuclear arsenal in its strategic communications, particularly to discourage direct Western military intervention and influence decisions concerning assistance to Kyiv.
The test came amid growing tensions between Nato and Russia, with sabre-rattling on both sides. On Tuesday a US B-52 bomber flew to northern Europe, escorted by British and Norwegian fighter jets, as part of America’s Global Thunder nuclear command and control exercise. US Strategic Command said the annual exercise is aimed to enhance nuclear readiness and ensure a safe, secure, effective and credible strategic deterrent force, adding it was not in response to actions by any nation or current world events. However, the exercise reinforces the credibility of American security guarantees to its allies at a time when US commitment to Nato’s mutual defence agreement is under question. Last week Nato kicked off Neptune Strike, a series of drills involving UK, Italian and Turkish naval groups that reinforce readiness to respond decisively to threats around the Norwegian Sea and Gulf of Finland.
