President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia's latest ICBM Sarmat transcontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead will be deployed in 2022.
We have successfully tested the ICBM Sarmat heavy transcontinental ballistic missile. The first such system is expected to be on duty from the end of this year, RT quoted Putin as saying on June 21.
President Putin stressed that Russia will further strengthen and modernize its armed forces. The deployment of the ICBM Sarmat will take place as part of the process of building a more powerful Russian army.
The Russian president has previously hailed the Sarmat missile as a "really unique weapon" that would ensure the country's security against external threats. Mr. Putin has said that Sarmat will make those who try to threaten Russia with aggressive statements rethink.
The ICBM Sarmat was test launched in April. The missile will replace older Voyevoda systems - identified by NATO as the SS-18 Satan.
Dmitry Rogozin, director of Russia's Roscosmos space agency, said in April that Sarmat, known as " satan 2", was the most powerful missile in its class in terms of range and warhead. According to Mr. Rogozin, the Sarmat is designed to be "invincible" with all the available air defense systems. Sarmat is much faster than Voyevoda and "can attack targets of almost unlimited range".
ICBM Sarmat (RS-28) was developed at the National missile Center named V.P. Makeyev since 2011. Makeyev mainly develops ICBMs deployed at sea. According to experts, the ICBM Sarmat is capable of sending a detachable warhead weighing up to 10 tons to any location in the world, including the Arctic and Southern poles.
The missile weighs 208.1 tons, equipped with 10-15 MIRV warheads (diversion warheads, each capable of targeting many different targets at the same time), the warhead's weight is nearly 10 tons and the fuel is 178 tons. ICBM Sarmat's range is 18,000km.
Sarmat's front- flared engine is the PDU-99 (developed from the RD-274) engine. The Sarmat liquid fuel missile reached a speed of Mach 20.7, equivalent to 25,560km/h.
Colonel Sergey Karakayev - Commander of the Russian Strategic missile Forces - said this month that modernization with top-notch combat-ready missiles, including the Sarmat and the Avangard hypersonic surfing weapons, will reach 86% by the end of 2022.
In April, then-Peminute spokesman John Kirby downplayed the importance of the Sarmat test, saying Moscow had precurately notified Washington in advance, as if it had an obligation to follow the new START Treaty in 2011, which set limits on the two countries nuclear weapons. Kirby told reporters that testing is a regular job and not surprising.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly stressed that Russia will only use nuclear weapons if its existence is threatened.
Also in his speech on June 21, President Putin said that the army has begun to receive S-500 missile defense systems.
Mr. Putin said that the S-500 long-range missile defense system, designed to intercept aircraft and missiles, may have some counter-satellite capabilities. According to the Russian leader, no missile system in the world can compare to the S-500.
We will continue to develop and strengthen the armed forces, taking into account potential military threats and risks, Putin said.
The S 500 has a range of 400-600km, designed specifically to carry out the task of searching for and destroying transcontinental ballistic missiles as well as super-aurobic cruise missiles and enemy fighter jets.
The S 500 is capable of simultaneously detecting and attacking 10 hypersonic ballistic missile targets at a speed of 25,000km/h - something that no other system in the world can do.
