Bulava

The RSM-56 Bulava is a Russian submarine-launched ballistic missile associated with the Borei-class SSBN force. Its development was intended to give Russia a modern sea-based nuclear deterrent after the Soviet era, using solid-propellant stages and multiple reentry vehicles. The program experienced a difficult test history, but it became central to Russia's current strategic submarine modernization.

Bulava is designed for launch from submerged ballistic-missile submarines, with solid propulsion and a nuclear payload architecture often described in terms of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. For military assessment, the key design issue is not conventional battlefield effect but survivable second-strike capability: it is meant to preserve nuclear deterrence even if land-based forces are threatened.

In service, a missile like Bulava cannot be understood in isolation. Its credibility depends on submarine quieting, patrol availability, crew training, secure communications, and launch reliability. The missile therefore belongs on HiWars as part of a strategic deterrence system rather than as a conventional strike weapon; its political and military effect comes from the threat of nuclear retaliation.