On Wednesday, the Russian military announced the first successful test firing of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a next-generation ultra-long-range weapon that President Vladimir Putin has hailed as “unparalleled.”
After the Kinjal missile, used a month earlier by Moscow during the destruction of an underground weapons warehouse in western Ukraine, another hypersonic type weapon has been at the center of attention since Wednesday: the Sarmat missile, also called “Satan 2”. “It is truly a unique weapon that will boost the military potential of our armed forces, keep Russia safe from external threats and make those who try to threaten our country with wild and aggressive rhetoric think twice. », said Vladimir Putin, in particular, during an announcement broadcast on Russian television. Here’s what you need to know about this weapon capable of carrying up to twelve nuclear warheads is considered one of the most powerful in the world. She could “wipe France off the map”.
What are the characteristics of the Sarmat missile?
The “RS-28 Sarmat” – its official name – is a fifth-generation intercontinental heavy ballistic missile, designed for Russia by the Makeyev design office, with the aim of eventually replacing the so-called “R-36M” missiles. Voevoda, also nicknamed “Satan” by NATO observers. Hence the nickname “Satan 2” now given to Sarmat by the same NATO analysts. The Sarmat takes its name from a nomadic people who lived during Antiquity around the Black Sea, between present-day Russia and Ukraine.
Military experts around the world particularly fear it. Some consider it the most powerful nuclear weapon ever designed. Weighing over 200 tons, it is even more capable than its predecessor, whose range was already 11,000 km. The Sarmat, him, “has practically no limits when it comes to range”according to Vladimir Putin, who had judged him in 2019 to be able to “aim at targets crossing the North Pole like the South Pole”.
This weapon is to be placed in the category of missiles presented in 2018 as “invincible” by Vladimir Putin. These include the Kinjal and Avangard hypersonic missiles. Like them, he would be able to “outwit all modern anti-aircraft systems”according to the Russian head of state, and no missile defense would seem able to intercept it.
the missile, “of which only domestically manufactured assemblies, components and parts were used in the creation”, says the Kremlin autocrat, can contain up to twelve nuclear warheads. Its strike force could wipe a territory off the map “the size of Texas or France”, according to information from Russian television. “Sarmart RS-28 /SS-X-30 /Satan II cannot destroy all life on Earth“However tempered Guy Martin, the editor-in-chief of the South African site defenceWeb specialized in the fields of defense and security with AFP.
What do we know about Wednesday’s test firing?
In a video, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov says the firing took place at 3:12 p.m. (12:12 p.m. local time) from the launch pad in Plesetsk, Arkhangelsk region. (North West). According to this source, the missile then hit as planned a target on another military ground, that of Kura, on the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka, in the Far East, more than 5,000 kilometers away.
The Pentagon assures that the shooting in question was a test of “routine” and did not constitute “not a threat” for the United States or its allies. Moscow has “suitably informed” Washington of carrying out this test, in accordance with its obligations under the nuclear treaties, and it was therefore not a “surprise” for the US Department of Defense, added its spokesman John Kirby.
When could this missile be deployed by Russian forces?
As indicated by a database maintained by an American scientist specializing in nuclear power, the Sarmat has not yet been put into service. This weapon was, according to a press release from the Russian state agency TASS on November 9, to be operational by the end of 2022. The war in Ukraine seems to have accelerated its deployment. “After the end of the test program, the Sarmat will enter the Russian strategic forces”, adds Igor Konashenkov. Forces “strategic”, in their broad definition, are notably designed to intervene in the event of nuclear war. At the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin made numerous statements about the use of the atomic bomb which put pressure on Westerners and divided experts. Russia certainly remains the first nuclear power on the planet. But for the time being, it remains within the framework of its doctrine made public in 2020, which specifies the conditions under which Russia would authorize itself to trigger atomic fire: an attack by weapons of mass destruction, conventional or nuclear, against Russian territory or an existential threat to the Russian state engaged in a conventional conflict.