OREANDA-NEWS. December 26, 2007. The “Tula” nuclear submarine of Russia’s Northern Fleet has successfully test-launched a ballistic missile from the Barents Sea at a target on the Kura test site (Kamchatka).

The general staff of the Navy reports that Tula launched a Sineva dummy missile.

The previous test-launch was carried out on Dec 17.

The Tula submarine, built in 1987, has been modernized at the Zvyozdochka (Starlet) Engineering Plant in Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk Region.

The submarine is equipped with 16 intercontinental PSM-54 missiles and torpedoes. Tula submarines constitute the mainstay of the strategic nuclear fleet. Seven of the series were built between 1984 and 1992.

R-29RM Sineva has been designed by Makeyev Design Bureau (Miass, Chelyabinsk region) and was accepted for service on July 9 2007.

Sineva is one of the most promising projects of Russia’s military industry. The missile was successfully tested in 2004 and is produced on a serial basis by Makeyev Design Bureau.

Sineva has proved its efficiency. On Sept 9 2006 it was launched by the K-84 Yekaterinburg strategic submarine. The missile was launched from an ice-covered polar region toward the Chizha test site at the Kanin Peninsula. The three warheads that the missile was reported to carry successfully reached their targets.