Large areas in the Barents Sea west of Novaya Zemlya and in the White Sea are closed off.
The test will take place from “Yury Dolgoruky” - the only Borei-class submarine sailing for Russia’s Northern Fleet.
The “Yury Dolgoruky” was in late April assisted into the White Sea from the Barents Sea by the Northern Fleet’s new icebreaker “Ilya Muromets”.
The entrance to the White Sea is shallow waters where submarines normally sail in surface position. The waters were still ice-covered at the time and “Yury Dolgoruky” sailed to the shipyard city of Severodvinsk.
An ballistic missile trajectory consists of several phases and the area in the Barents Sea closed off for civilian shipping is where the booster rocket is separated and will fall to sea.
The dummy warhead is likely targeted to the Kura missile test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far Northeast.
Bulava is the most modern submarine launched ballistic missile for nuclear warheads in the Russian navy. Since 2004, a total of 26 tests of the missile have taken place.
The K-535 Yuri Dolgoruky submarine is the leading sub of Project 955 Borey.
The submarine is an element of the Russian nuclear triad: the Yuri Dolgoruky is armed with Bulava ballistic missiles.
The submarine is 170 meters long and 13.5 meters wide.
Class and type: Borei-class submarine
Displacement: 14,720 t (14,488 long tons) surfaced
24,000 t (23,621 long tons) submerged
Length: 170 m (557 ft 9 in)
Beam: 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)
Draught: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Propulsion: 1 × OK-650B nuclear reactor, 1 × AEU steam turbine, 1 shaft
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Complement: 130 officers and men
Armament: 16 × Bulava SLBM, 6 × SS-N-15 cruise missiles (21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes)
