Russia said Wednesday it had launched its Sarmat ICBM, a new addition to its nuclear arsenal that President Vladimir Putin said would give Moscow’s enemies something to think about. Putin was shown on television as the military said the missile had been launched from Plesetsk, in the north-west of the country, and had hit targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east. “The new complex has the highest tactical and technical characteristics and is capable of surpassing all modern means of anti-missile defense. It has no analogues in the world and it will not do so for a long time,” Putin said.
The new ICBM was launched today from the Pleseck Cosmodrome and crashed into the Kura impact area in Kamchatka after covering a distance of more than 5,450 kilometers, which is sufficient if headed west from the same starting point. to hit any target in Western Europe. The maximum range of the Sarmat, a military source explained to the Tass agency last year, however, is equal to 18,000 kilometers, just under half the equatorial circumference. The Sarmats are destined to replace the R-36M2 Voevoda, in service for fifty years, and the first base to make the replacement, the Russian Defense announced, will be that of Krasnoyarsk, by the end of the year. The launch tests, initially scheduled for the third quarter of 2021, will be at least three, one of which will cover the maximum range, Tass had anticipated. The Sarmat is capable of flying at a speed of 24 thousand kilometers per hour, weighs 208 tons, can hold up to 178 tons of fuel and can carry a warhead weighing almost 10 tons.
“This truly unique weapon will enhance the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia’s security from external threats and provide food for thought to those who, in the fervor of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, seek to threaten our country.” . The Sarmat is a new heavy ICBM that Russia is expected to deploy with 10 or more missile warheads, according to the United States Congressional Research Service. It has been in development for years and therefore its latest launch is no surprise to the West, but it comes at a time of extreme geopolitical tension due to the Russian war in Ukraine.