MAPMAKERS TECHNOLOGY REFERENCE

RSM-56 Bulava

The RSM-56 Bulava is Russia’s solid-propellant submarine-launched ballistic missile associated principally with the Borei-class strategic submarine force.

Technical basis

The weapon combines intercontinental-range solid-propellant stages, inertial guidance, and multiple-payload strategic delivery in a submarine-launched package.

In The Mine

Russia offers existing Bulava missiles as candidates for the second planetary-defense carrier. The proposal is declined because changing missile families after the JL-3 configuration has already flown would require a new structural, guidance, checkout, and separation integration effort.

Series appearances

• The Divided Peninsula — Chapter Twenty-Seven
• The Mine — Chapter Twenty-Two

Further learning

• CSIS Missile Threat — RSM-56 Bulava
• Wikipedia — RSM-56 Bulava