The Russian Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), Bulava, will soon enter serial production, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has said.

The missile was successfully tested from the Yury Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea last week.

“The Bulava has taken off. That’s good news. We understand that in this case we can put the missile into serial production. We’ve achieved results; we now can put the Bulava on the Yury Dolgoruky,” he added.

The three-stage Bulava missile, designed for deployment on Borey-class nuclear submarines, carries up to ten MIRV warheads and has a range of over 8,000km, according to RIA Novosti.