Russian nuclear subs to conduct volley fires by ballistic missiles for testing purposes

The Russian Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines will conduct volley fires by ballistic missiles for testing purposes, Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov said on March 17.

"Five years ago, the first Borei-class strategic missile-carrying submarine cruiser Yury Dolgoruky successfully performed a salvo of four Bulava ballistic missiles. From now on, we will conduct volley fires by ballistic missiles for testing purposes, when necessary. The submariners are ready to accomplish such objectives," TASS quotes the Navy chief as saying in an interview with the Defence Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on the eve of Submariner Day celebrated in Russia on March 19.

In 1990, a Northern Fleet submarine fired 16 ballistic missiles from the Barents Sea towards the Kura testing ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East during the Soviet drills, setting a record for the domestic submarine forces.

At that time, the Soviet Navy needed to prove the efficiency of the seaborne component of the country’s nuclear triad, the admiral said.

"Today we do not need to prove anything to anyone," Yevmenov stressed.