London, May 2: The Soviet Union has flight tested a new submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of more than 3,000 miles, the International Institute of Strategic Studies reported. After overtaking the United States in land-based missiles, Russia is now likely to catch up with the US’s substantial lead in strategic missile-carrying submarines by the middle of next year – as soon as possible, the institute said. The Institute did not anticipate a major war in the 1970s because “the peace of the nuclear king seemed to put an end to that fear”. The institute stated that half the Soviet combat surface fleet would be armed with missiles by 1975. Russia is also building a new nuclear-powered attack submarine, and its long-range submarines were greatly improved in construction and weapons systems. However, the United States continues to pursue qualitative improvement of its strategic nuclear forces, the survey said. The Chinese are building a new twin-jet fighter, a new radar system and Soviet-type SAM2 surface-to-air missiles, the study said.