But the development specifications remained the same. The missile was to be launched from under water, cover a distance of 4,200 miles and carry a total of 10 independently targetable warheads capable of outwitting any missile defense system. It also had to be lightweight for its class, approximately 30 to 40 tons. The answer to the quest was provided by the Bulava-30, or Bulava-M, as it is now called.

True, it flunked half of its eight tests. On the one hand, that is easy to explain. No missile, either in Russia or outside it, is ever a first-time success. Tests are tests; they are conducted to check novel ideas and then learn from mistakes.

Computer-aided design, widely used now in all technical development, is unable to predict the behavior of a product in a natural environment, especially one such as sea water. Sea water is 800 times denser than air and always has been a challenge to a missile launched from a running submarine.

The rare television footage of Bulava tests shows that the missile, to overcome the pressure of passing waves, emerges from under the water at an angle and only later assumes a ballistic path leading to a target.

On the other hand, with skilled workers at a premium, second-tier vendors sometimes supply flawed parts and components to the parent manufacturer -- the Votkinsk Engineering Plant -- which assembles Bulavas. Even the tightest incoming inspection lets through some defective components. And that is also a reality of our time.

Still, from test to test, the Bulava is gaining in intelligence and increasingly flies where it is told to fly. Its latest launch, on Sept. 18, proves it. It may well be that the experts will spot some defects. We will learn about them later, despite a cocoon of secrecy that surrounds the new weapon's development.

While there are "resentful" people and while telemetric data are read off the monitoring devices not only by our technicians but also by their overseas partners and rivals, so to say, some secrets will leak out.

Yet let us hope that the Bulava-M and the first Borei-class submarine Yury Dolgoruky, after a 12-year spell at the Sevmash factory, ultimately will be commissioned, as promised, early in 2009. And will be followed by other legendary figures in Russian history -- Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh. The total estimated number of these submarines is six to eight. The first, Dolgoruky, has 12 missile silos; the others, 16 each.

If these plans see the light of day, the Russian naval nuclear forces will become a reliable deterrent against any potential aggressor in the second decade of the 21st century.

(Nikita Petrov is a Russian military analyst. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

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