Colonel Khodarenok: "Sarmat" will reach the enemy through the North and through the South Pole
Russia has successfully tested the Sarmat missile system. The range of the new missile can reach more than 35 thousand kilometers. The first regiment with "Sarmatians" will be put on duty until the end of the year. What kind of missile system is this and why it can reach the enemy through both the North and South Poles — in the material of the military observer Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
The test results of the promising Sarmat strategic missile system confirmed the specified characteristics and the correctness of the solutions included in it. The commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, General Sergei Karakayev, reported this to the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces, President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
The Russian fifth-generation RS-28 Sarmat silo-based strategic missile system with a heavy multi-stage liquid-fueled ballistic missile is designed to replace the R-36M2 ICBMs in service with the Strategic Missile Forces. The product developer is JSC State Rocket Center named after Academician V. P. Makeev. The manufacturing company, Krasnoyarsk Machine—Building Plant, is one of the largest enterprises of the Russian military—industrial complex.
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| The Sarmat ICBM. |
| Source: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation |
The range of the Sarmat
The tactical and technical characteristics of the Sarmat ICBM are as follows: the launch weight is more than 208 tons, the length is more than 36 m, the diameter is 3 m, the throw weight is more than 10 tons, the maximum firing range is more than 18 thousand km, the number of warheads is 10, the charge capacity of each of them is 750 kt.
"The test results confirmed the correctness of the design and technological solutions laid down, as well as the feasibility of the specified characteristics of the missile system," General Karakayev noted in his report to the head of state.
At the same time, the Russian president clarified that the range of the Sarmat ICBM can reach more than 35 thousand km.
"The missile can move not only along a ballistic, but also along a suborbital trajectory, which allows for a range of over 35,000 kilometers with twice the accuracy characteristics simultaneously improved, with the ability to overcome all existing and promising missile defense systems," the head of state said.
The RS-28 entered service on September 1, 2023. The product is equipped with a wide range of high-power nuclear weapons, including hypersonic ones, and the most advanced missile defense systems. The high security characteristics of the launchers and the large energy capabilities of the rocket will ensure the use of this complex in any environment.
It is believed that the Avangard guided warheads, which will be equipped with the Sarmat, will allow the use of Russian ICBMs in local wars with the destruction of strategic targets by the kinetic energy of the warhead without using a nuclear explosion.
Putin's "Last Warning"
Back in 2016, the tabloids Daily Mail, The Sun and The New York Post published articles about the promising Russian RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, the first image of which was published on its website by the Makeev State Missile Center in the same year.
The Daily Mail promised its readers back then that Sarmat was Putin's last warning to the West. The RS-28 is capable of wiping England and Wales off the face of the Earth with a nuclear strike 2,000 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The development of the missile was ordered to begin in 2010 in accordance with the decree of the Russian government "On the State Defense Order for 2010 and the planning period 2012-2013." In June 2011, a state contract was signed with the Ministry of Defense for the implementation of development work.
The objectives of creating a promising strategic missile system (RKSN) Sarmat is a guaranteed and effective fulfillment of the tasks of nuclear deterrence by the strategic forces of Russia.
During the development of ICBMs of this type, the concept of the so-called "orbital bombardment", implemented in 1962 in the Soviet R-36orb rocket, was revived.
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| The RS-28 Sarmat ICBM. |
| Source: Alina Djus/Gazeta.Ru» |
This is an effective means of overcoming a potential enemy's missile defense system, allowing targets to be attacked, for example, in the United States along a variety of trajectories, including through the South Pole, bypassing deployed missile defense units and units, and requiring the United States to create a "circular missile defense system."
The fifth-generation RS-28 Sarmat Russian strategic silo-based missile system with a heavy multi-stage liquid-fueled ballistic missile is currently being equipped with the 13th Orenburg Red Banner Missile Division in the village of Dombarovsky and the 62nd Uzhur Red Banner Missile Division named after the 60th Anniversary of the USSR in the city of Uzhur, Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Mikhail Khodarenok
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976).
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
