http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081011/117682147.html
Russian submarine conducts full-range test of Sineva ICBM
15:29 | 11/ 10/ 2008
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SEVEROMORSK, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian submarine has for the
first time test launched the Sineva ballistic missile to its maximum
range, an aide to the Russian navy commander said Saturday.
Captain 1st rank Igor Dygalo said the missile was launched Saturday from
the Barents Sea to an equatorial part of the Pacific Ocean.
"For the first time in Navy history, the launch was not to the Kura test
range in Kamchatka [Russian Far East], but to the area of an equatorial
part of the Pacific," Dygalo said, adding that the launch was made to
check the preparedness of naval strategic nuclear forces.
The Sineva launch was made as part of the Dvina tactical exercises of
the Russian Northern Fleet, which are also part of larger-scale
Stability-2008 exercises conducted with Belarus that started in
September and will run until October 21.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived on board the Admiral Kuznetsov
aircraft carrier Saturday to observe the military exercises.
The Barents Sea portion of the drills involves more than 5,000 military
personnel, eight surface ships and five submarines.
The exercises test Russia's strategic and regional deterrent and the
structures of the Northern Fleet, particularly in relation to the naval
strategic nuclear forces.
The RSM-54 Sineva (NATO designation SS-N-23 Skiff) is a third-generation
liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile that entered
service with the Russian Navy in July 2007. It has a maximum range of
8,300 km (5,200 miles) and can carry four or 10 nuclear warheads,
depending on the modification.
Russia's Strategic Missile Forces said last year that Russia would
conduct at least 11 test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles
in 2008 and would double the number of launches after 2009 "to prevent
the weakening of Russia's nuclear deterrent."
