A Russian Borey Class ballistic missile submarine successfully conducted the first operational test of the Bulava nuclear-capable SLBM last week, the Russian News Agency reported. “The system has operated perfectly. All parameters were confirmed. The warhead hit the pre-calculated area,” Russian Defense Minister Yury Borisov stated in the report. The SLBM is capable of lofting 10 independent nuclear warheads approximately 5,000 miles and will be the mainstay of Russia’s next-generation sea-based deterrent, according to the report. A series of failed launches prompted officials to order additional testing before the missile is cleared for operations, the last of which is slated for late 2015, according to a second report. The inert warhead impacted Kamchatka Peninsula test range from a submerged positioned in the Barents Sea on Oct. 29.
Lockheed Martin projects more than a billion dollars of losses on a classified program, but company officials said April 23 they are confident it will turn profitable by 2028 and become a "franchise" system in the U.S. military.