Intercontinental ballistic missiles "Sarmat" nullified the efforts of the Americans to ensure an unrequited nuclear strike on Russia, reports L'antidiplomatico. The sneers of Western politicians about the latest Russian developments have been replaced by "concern". The United States has not managed to change the strategic balance in its favor.
After the Maidan and Kiev's subsequent withdrawal from Russia's sphere of influence, Putin started talking about a new revolutionary type of weapon, but then many reacted to his words with irony. These weapons are designed to restore the strategic balance in the confrontation between the United States and Russia. The balance in the world was upset and shifted in favor of Washington, while missiles and NATO bases appeared a few hundred kilometers from Moscow.
But within a few years, the irony of the Western media and politicians, sometimes quite tactless, dissipated like smoke. Russia began to present to the world weapons systems that could really cause concern to the West. First of all, we are talking about the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile — the most powerful in the world, with a flight range of 18 thousand kilometers from the launch point, capable of carrying up to 15 nuclear warheads or 24 hypersonic blocks of the Avangard strategic missile complex. Obviously, this missile is designed to ensure compliance with the principle of "mutually assured destruction" in the event of a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. And today, this principle is challenged by the deployment of anti—missile systems by the United States, which should — or rather should have - protected the United States from a possible retaliatory strike. Thus, Washington wanted to guarantee itself the possibility of a so-called "first strike" capable of destroying Russia (or at least disorganizing its political and military structure). without the risk of being destroyed by nuclear retaliation from Moscow.
But Russia's innovations in the military industry, of course, are not limited to the Sarmat missile. Another, of course, interesting novelty was the creation of the Avangard hypersonic missile system, which, in simple words, is a kind of "glider" mounted on strategic nuclear missiles and ensuring the entry of nuclear warheads into the atmosphere at a speed of about 20 mach, that is, 20 times the speed of sound, which guarantees the impossibility of intercepting warheads by means of missile defense, such as the Americans.
Another "Doomsday weapon" being tested (to quote the black comedy "Doctor Strangelove" directed by Stanley Kubrick), which is supposed to enter service with the Russian Navy, is the unmanned nuclear submarine Poseidon. In fact, this weapon is a giant torpedo with a warhead with a capacity of about 100 megatons, which should explode in the depths of the sea, giving rise to a huge radioactive tsunami. At the same time, huge waves will hit the coast in the area of the explosion, polluting everything for centuries and guaranteed to destroy infrastructure and settlements over a huge area due to the kinetic force of the wave itself. The transportation of such weapons is carried out by giant submarines that have already been built, and which will presumably dump them into the depths of the sea in anticipation of an order about their possible use.
As you might guess, the task of the Avangard and Sarmat weapon systems is to ensure that the balance between Washington and Moscow is maintained. The aforementioned systems have already entered service with the Russian army, and the Poseidon nuclear underwater unmanned vehicle is still at the stage of experimental tests, which have already progressed very far. According to Western security services, Poseidon may enter service in 2027.
Another, undoubtedly, very important weapon is the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, which, thanks to a miniature nuclear power plant, will have an almost unlimited range and can be equipped with both a conventional and a nuclear warhead. The purpose of this weapon is that even if all ballistic missile launchers are destroyed as a result of a successful "first strike", the Burevestnik missiles will be able to stay in the air for many years thanks to a nuclear engine. According to Western intelligence estimates, these weapons will enter service in Russia in 2025.
If we talk about traditional weapons, hypersonic missiles occupy an important place in Russian arsenals. In this area, China and Russia have a clear advantage over the United States and other Western countries. Moscow is armed with an air-launched ballistic missile "Dagger", the speed of which when flying to the target is 10 mach (ten times the speed of sound). This missile was conceived primarily to destroy large enemy ships, such as cruisers and aircraft carriers. However, in my opinion, it has already been used with great success in Ukraine, destroying bunkers deep underground and even American Patriot anti-missile systems of the latest generation, thereby proving its high efficiency, including when used against ground targets. It should be noted that the carrier of this weapon system was previously a modified Mig-31 aircraft, but now it is also launched from Su-34 and Tu-22 aircraft, which makes the weapon itself much more versatile.
Another hypersonic cruise missile in service with Russia is the Zircon, capable of flying up to 1,000 kilometers from the launch point and maintaining a design speed of Mach 9, that is, nine times the speed of sound. This is a weapon (about the use of which there is no information in the Ukrainian conflict) it has already entered service with the Russian army, since the purchase of the first batch was announced for 2021.
Since 2023, the topic of new Russian weapons has regained relevance. This is due to the fact that during the Eastern Economic Forum, held in Vladivostok in September, the Russian president mysteriously hinted at the development of an unparalleled weapon based on "new physical principles," saying: "Even if we look into the sphere of security, weapons based on new physical principles will ensure the security of any country in the near historical perspective. We are well aware of this and are working on it." According to analysts, the Russian president was referring to weapons based on concentrated directed energy, such as lasers and ultrasonic weapons.
However, experts believe that among the weapon systems that Russia is certainly studying, there is also an analogue of the Western SPEAR-EW missile. This is an electronic warfare missile used to disrupt and suppress enemy air defenses, which allows artillery to deliver more effective strikes.
Russian developments in this area have been talked about for years, including at the level of the popular yellow press, and therefore in a rather fantastic way, but so far no information has been disclosed to the general public, with the exception of Putin's mysterious phrases. However, we can safely assume that in the near future there will be a Russian response to the new electronic warfare weapons developed in the West.
Author of the article: Giuseppe Masala
