Bulava SLBM

From Strategy Page:

Despite several successful tests in the last two years, and the decision to put its new Bulava SLBMs (Sea Launched Ballistic Missiles) into production, Russia just announced that several more tests would be performed before the missile was actually put into service.

Despite the many test failures, the Russians were confident in the basic technology in the Bulava. They knew there would be test failures, and believed they were facing no more problems that the two most recent U.S. SLBMs. These had had a 13 percent (23 tests of the Trident I) and two percent (49 tests of Trident II) failure rate. What did make many Russians nervous was the fact that the Bulava is replacement for an earlier SLBM that had to be cancelled during development because of too many test failures, and too many design and equipment problems that could not be fixed. Thus the Bulava is basically a navalized version of the successful Topol land based ICBM. The reliability of the Topol is the primary reason the Russians moved forward with Bulava.

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