Today Navy CINC, Admiral Vysotskiy told an ITAR-TASS correspondent a Bulava SLBM test is planned this week. Asked whether the missile would fly, Vysotskiy said he hopes it will:
“If I wasn’t confident, I wouldn’t have made these plans. Nothing can be ruled out, we aren’t giving guarantees. But we hope it will fly.”
Vysotskiy noted that preparations for the next launches have been conducted very seriously, and state acceptance made much tighter.
He said Bulava won’t be fired from Borey-class SSBN Yuriy Dolgorukiy until there are successful tests from Dmitriy Donskoy, adding that Dolgorukiy will be ready to launch Bulava in about a month or six weeks.
Russian Defense Policy 
What has changed in the Bulava test preparations that would make Russia hopeful of success this time around? Has the quality control during manufacture of components changed? Or could it be that the design has very little cushion for error? Success in this test will boost Russia’a confidence by miles. However it still doesn’t mean complete confidence until the balance two tests are equally successful.