On 22nd May, 2018, the Russian Navy launched four intercontinental ballistic missiles in the White Sea as a test launch for their modified Bulava missiles from one for the lead Borei-class submarines, the K-535 Yuriy Dolgorukiy. A video was released by the Russian Defence Ministry later that day showing four R-30 Bulavas reaching their target in Far East Russia after being launched from the Yuriy Dolgorukiy within seconds from each other.
The modern usage of the Borei-class Yuriy Dolgorukiy is part of Russia’s intentions to restart the powerful age-old fleet of Soviet-built nuclear missile submarines, each of which excelled in their Bulava carrying capacity. The Yuriy Dolgorukiy itself is one of the oldest Borei-class underwater cruisers which can launch a salvo of up to 16 Bulava missiles, as well as normal torpedoes. The vessel has a full displacement of 24,000 tons, and is about 13 meters wide, and 160 meters long.
The Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet confirmed in an online statement that this test-launch was the first of its kind from a Yuriy Dolgorukiy submarine. The success of this launch also means that the Russian ICBMs and Project 995 submarines were now ready for combat; and the fact that a live video of the firing was released to the public meant that the world was supposed to know this. A repeated launch of these Bulava missiles retain the potential to exert a combined explosive force of more than 2,400 kilotons, which reaches to about 160 times the destructive potential of that which hit Hiroshima at the end of World War II. The Bulava missiles also reserves the potential to be launched from a submerged submarine, like that of the Yuriy Dolgorukiy, thereby operating in near silence, allowing the vessels to remain hidden underwater anywhere, at any time of the day.