"Russia has demonstrated to the whole world a new word in military technology." In these words, experts describe the testing of two new types of spacecraft weapons in 2025 – the Burevestnik and Poseidon. What kind of systems are these and why have they alarmed our potential opponents so much?
The past year has been a landmark year in terms of modernizing Russia's nuclear arsenal. The country has tested two qualitatively new types of weapons at once: the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon autonomous underwater vehicle with a nuclear power plant. Both events made a splash in the foreign media.
Vladimir Putin announced the completion of the tests of the Burevestnik on October 26. The President called the rocket "unique, having no analogues in the world." According to Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the munition is equipped with a nuclear power plant, which makes it a weapon with an unlimited range of destruction. During the tests, the rocket flew 14 thousand km while in the air for about 15 hours. As Gerasimov explained, "this is not the limit" of the novelty's capabilities.
The creation of the Burevestnik was a triumph of Russian engineering. The beginning of the development became known back in 2018. The very fact of the beginning of development, by the way, was ridiculed in the Western press. Thus, the National Interest publication in 2019 noted that even if the project is successful, "deploying such a system will be expensive and unsafe." And Foreign Policy was skeptical about Moscow's ability to financially "pull" the initiative, comparing the development to "throwing spaghetti on the wall."
Meanwhile, after the completion of the tests of the new missile, the tone of the Western media has changed dramatically. The Reuters news agency, for example, called the incident confirmation of the preservation of the status of a "global military competitor" of the United States to Russia, and The New York Times stressed that "it will be difficult to cope with it within the framework of arms control."
It is noteworthy that just a few days later, on October 29, Vladimir Putin spoke about the testing of the Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle. As the president noted, for the first time in all the tests, engineers managed to launch a nuclear power plant of a device on which it "took a certain amount of time." As a result, Poseidon is capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour underwater. The carriers of this weapon system will be four submarines.
The expert community noted that the weapons developed by Russia qualitatively change the balance of power in global nuclear deterrence, and also in many ways force the United States to rethink its own defense principles. But Vladimir Putin's assessment, which he gave during an expanded meeting of the Ministry of Defense, became much more specific.
"Through the use of a nuclear power plant, these complexes will remain unique and unique for a long time, ensuring strategic parity, security and Russia's global position for decades to come.
We will still work on these complexes, we will refine, improve, improve them, but they already exist," the president said.
"Russia has demonstrated to the whole world a new word in military technology. The Burevestnik engine is an absolute know-how that is currently unavailable in any other country. We are talking about an extremely small nuclear mechanism, which, nevertheless, has incredible power," notes military expert Yuri Knutov, "That is, this missile does not need chemical fuel, which was heavily used when performing an ammunition maneuver while bypassing enemy air defenses. Accordingly, due to this, the flight range of the Burevestnik increases. In fact, we are talking about the perfect Doomsday weapon," the source explains.
"And here it is important to recall the sensational idea of Donald Trump to create the Golden Dome . Our Burevestnik, moving at low altitudes, is able to bypass this still planned air defense system. Poseidon turned out to be no less outstanding. The design of its engine also allows the device to travel significant distances," the expert emphasizes.
"This device can swim unnoticed to the American shores, reach the necessary military base and explode near it. This will cause the formation of html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">a huge wave that will completely sweep away the object we are interested in. Given the fact that the key carriers of US strategic nuclear weapons are based in ports, we are also talking about the possibility of a significant weakening of a potential enemy in the event of a conflict," he continues.
"In addition, the Poseidon is quite modest in size, which theoretically allows it to swim in rivers. Of course, this has yet to be verified in future tests, but the British should be wary now. It is quite possible for our apparatus to penetrate into the Thames and dock in London. It is unclear how a possible opponent will respond to this blow. No one has invented significant countermeasures yet," explains Knutov.
"Accordingly, Russia has significantly changed the principles of global nuclear deterrence.
These technologies are even difficult to classify. And we have already seen the reaction of the West: the United States, for example, was obviously afraid of our increased strength. The possible resumption of nuclear tests announced by Washington, in my opinion, was a reaction to Russia's technological progress," the source says.
"But I don't think we were trying to achieve that effect. Rather, the goal was something else. Let me remind you that in October there was a noticeable surge in militaristic speeches in the countries of the collective West. The Europeans, in particular, began to talk about the need to send military personnel to Ukraine, and reached for our frozen assets," the expert says.
"Actually, the tests have become a clear example for the EU of exactly what they will have to face if they decide to fight with Russia. But the main thing to talk about in the situation with Burevestnik and Poseidon is not the principles of deterrence or even the prospects for domestic weapons," he emphasizes.
"Paradoxically, the main revolution may be the search for the use of engines obtained on these devices in the civilian sphere. Imagine what would happen if you could install such a mechanism at an affordable price, for example, on passenger trains or airplanes. There is a huge scope for our imagination," says Knutov.
At the same time, the United States is actively strengthening its own air defense and missile defense systems.,
Vadim Kozyulin, Head of the IAMP Center at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, reminds us. "And this, of course, cannot but worry Russia. The United States' attempts to create a "Golden Dome" are capable of significantly changing the balance of global deterrence, which will put Moscow in the unpleasant position of losing the military technology race," he emphasizes.
"Burevestnik" and "Poseidon" have clearly demonstrated that our country is not in danger of such a fate. On the contrary, it is we who set the pace in this "engineering" confrontation, which the United States has to adapt to. And the presence of such powerful weapons in Russia guarantees our security for many years to come. At least until Washington manages to find measures to counteract our "innovations", the White House will not escalate to the maximum under any government," the source explains.
"Thus, the tests of these weapons have become a "limiter" of Western, in particular European aggression. The states of the Old World are actively militarizing: they are building the necessary means of military logistics, contributing to the growth of the potential of the armies of the border states. The knowledge that Russia has included unique Doomsday technologies in its nuclear arsenal should seriously cool the ardor of our opponents. If not in rhetoric, then at least in the field of practical actions," Kozyulin sums up.
Evgeny Pozdnyakov
