MOSCOW is set to unleash the ‘Son of Satan’ — the world’s biggest nuclear missile — upon an international community already reeling from the return of the Cold War.
The RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is about to be deployed to Siberia where it will undergo testing and refinement. It is due to become fully operational in 2018.
It will replace the ageing R-36M2 Voyevoda ballistic missiles which were given the codename SS-18 “Satan” when they first entered service in 1988, at the height of the Cold War.
A recent release from Russian government news agency TASS states the Sarmat missile (which Western media has dubbed ‘Satan II’) is a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a payload of up to 10 tons.
Little is known about “Satan II” beyond such government statements. Russian broadcaster Zvezda recently boasted the RS-28 was capable of “wiping out parts of the Earth the size of Texas or France.”
NUMBERS OF THE BEAST
It is generally believed the ICBM will weigh about 100 tons with a range of about 10,000km.
It can reportedly carry a payload of between 4 to 10 tons. At 10 tons, it will be able to carry 10 heavy or 15 medium independently targeted thermonuclear warheads.
Each heavy warhead is believed capable of producing a 750 kiloton blast. The detonation that flattened Hiroshima was just 15 kilotons. There are reports of extremely large single warheads capable of up to 20,000 kilotons.
The purpose of an ICBM is to carry these weapons into a suborbital position above a target where they would separate and plunge down towards independently designated targets.
A prototype of the new ballistic missile — which is based on the same liquid-fuelled rocket engine technology as its predecessor — was completed late last year. However TASS reports testing has been delayed as the testing facility was recently shifted to the Plesetsk cosmodrome took longer than expected to complete.
SILOS TO BE UPGRADED
While using the same launch silos as its predecessor, these have had to be substantially modified to house the new — larger — weapon. Pro-Moscow news service RT.com boasts the facilities will also be “additionally fortified to better withstand close nuclear strikes”.
This will include the installation of new long-range defensive missile systems, such as the new S-400 recently deployed to Syria.
Existing nuclear reduction treaties do not prevent member nations from replacing or upgrading existing arsenals. Instead, the treaties mainly set limits on the total number of warheads available — and not the systems used to launch them.
CHARIOTS OF FIRE
Russian media is also boasting of new technology intended to enhance the missile’s ability to reach its target.
“Sarmat warheads are to have advanced antimissile countermeasures meant to beat the US ABM shield,” RT reported late last year. “Some speculations say they would have a conventional hypersonic variant like the American Advanced Hypersonic Weapon or the Chinese WU-14 and could be used as a precision intercontinental weapon in a non-nuclear conflict.”
This high speed, Zvezda reports, will enable it to “speed past every missile defence system in existence.”
A test launch of an unarmed version of the missile is expected at some point in the next three months.
DEFENDER OF THE FAITH
The United States and its allies have not been sitting by idly as the new missile approaches completion.
A new radar network is being established in Norway, due for completion in 2020. According to a statement from the Norwegian military, the new station is intended to “collect scientific information, observe space objects and to monitor the compliance of national interests.”
Essentially this means it is a new threat detection and early guidance missile defence base.
The United States has invested heavily in anti-ballistic missile weapons systems in recent decades, including air, sea and land based versions which can be deployed in the hope of knocking the ICBM out of the sky before it can deploy its devastating payload.
But the United States is committed to maintaining its older, less capable Minuteman III ICBM active until at least 2030. The US air force has, however, recently issued contracts to upgrade their guidance systems and other functionality.
The RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is about to be deployed to Siberia where it will undergo testing and refinement. It is due to become fully operational in 2018.
It will replace the ageing R-36M2 Voyevoda ballistic missiles which were given the codename SS-18 “Satan” when they first entered service in 1988, at the height of the Cold War.
A recent release from Russian government news agency TASS states the Sarmat missile (which Western media has dubbed ‘Satan II’) is a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a payload of up to 10 tons.
Little is known about “Satan II” beyond such government statements. Russian broadcaster Zvezda recently boasted the RS-28 was capable of “wiping out parts of the Earth the size of Texas or France.”
NUMBERS OF THE BEAST
It is generally believed the ICBM will weigh about 100 tons with a range of about 10,000km.
It can reportedly carry a payload of between 4 to 10 tons. At 10 tons, it will be able to carry 10 heavy or 15 medium independently targeted thermonuclear warheads.
Each heavy warhead is believed capable of producing a 750 kiloton blast. The detonation that flattened Hiroshima was just 15 kilotons. There are reports of extremely large single warheads capable of up to 20,000 kilotons.
The purpose of an ICBM is to carry these weapons into a suborbital position above a target where they would separate and plunge down towards independently designated targets.
A prototype of the new ballistic missile — which is based on the same liquid-fuelled rocket engine technology as its predecessor — was completed late last year. However TASS reports testing has been delayed as the testing facility was recently shifted to the Plesetsk cosmodrome took longer than expected to complete.
SILOS TO BE UPGRADED
While using the same launch silos as its predecessor, these have had to be substantially modified to house the new — larger — weapon. Pro-Moscow news service RT.com boasts the facilities will also be “additionally fortified to better withstand close nuclear strikes”.
This will include the installation of new long-range defensive missile systems, such as the new S-400 recently deployed to Syria.
Existing nuclear reduction treaties do not prevent member nations from replacing or upgrading existing arsenals. Instead, the treaties mainly set limits on the total number of warheads available — and not the systems used to launch them.
CHARIOTS OF FIRE
Russian media is also boasting of new technology intended to enhance the missile’s ability to reach its target.
“Sarmat warheads are to have advanced antimissile countermeasures meant to beat the US ABM shield,” RT reported late last year. “Some speculations say they would have a conventional hypersonic variant like the American Advanced Hypersonic Weapon or the Chinese WU-14 and could be used as a precision intercontinental weapon in a non-nuclear conflict.”
This high speed, Zvezda reports, will enable it to “speed past every missile defence system in existence.”
A test launch of an unarmed version of the missile is expected at some point in the next three months.
DEFENDER OF THE FAITH
The United States and its allies have not been sitting by idly as the new missile approaches completion.
A new radar network is being established in Norway, due for completion in 2020. According to a statement from the Norwegian military, the new station is intended to “collect scientific information, observe space objects and to monitor the compliance of national interests.”
Essentially this means it is a new threat detection and early guidance missile defence base.
The United States has invested heavily in anti-ballistic missile weapons systems in recent decades, including air, sea and land based versions which can be deployed in the hope of knocking the ICBM out of the sky before it can deploy its devastating payload.
But the United States is committed to maintaining its older, less capable Minuteman III ICBM active until at least 2030. The US air force has, however, recently issued contracts to upgrade their guidance systems and other functionality.
