MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. The solutions integrated in Russia’s submarine-launched Bulava ballistic missile proved their efficiency, Chief Designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (the missile’s developer) Yuri Solomonov told TASS and TV Channel One on Tuesday.
Solomonov who is also a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences is celebrating his 75th birthday on November 3.
"The solutions incorporated proved their efficiency and today we hope that the sea component is in reliable hands," the chief designer said.
The flight tests of the Bulava ballistic missile proceeded fairly well from the very beginning, he said.
"All these speculations about low reliability are unprofessional talks that should not be responded to. We believe that the main criterion for evaluating the product is that we have not made any single design change in the work since the very beginning," the chief designer said, adding that missile malfunctions during the tests were the result of manufacturing defects and the state of the industry at that time.
The chief designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology said he had made a lot of efforts to prove, primarily, to the Defense Ministry that it was necessary to switch to new solid propellant.
"No one believed it was possible to do something in the field of special chemistry during those dreadful years but we did it. By 'we' I mean not only the parent organization but a large number of enterprises that engaged in this work," Solomonov said.
The production and technological capabilities and labor discipline were low at that period "due to low wages, unsettled social issues and insufficient control," the chief designer said.
"However, there were no fewer setbacks during the trials of these very sea-launched missiles in the Soviet period. We can recall the missile Bark that never came into existence as a result of malfunctions," he noted.
The R-30 ‘Bulava’ intercontinental ballistic missile had been developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology since the mid-1990s under the direction of Chief Designers Yuri Solomonov and Alexander Sukhodolsky.
According to media reports, the Bulava is a three-stage solid-propellant missile that can carry up to six independently targeted warheads and is designated as the armament for Project 955 Borei-class nuclear-powered submarines. Each sub carries 16 launchers.
Overall, Russia has conducted about 30 test-launches of R-30 missiles since 2005, with about a third of them accompanied by various technical setbacks. The Bulava’s experimental operation started in 2013 when the Russian Navy accepted the Project 955 Borei-class lead missile-carrying submarine for service. In 2018, the Bulava went into service.