Russia Just Tested A Missile That Could Destroy An Area The Size Of TexasMICHAEL SNYDER/
The Russians have developed the most sophisticated nuclear missile in the history of the world by a very wide margin, and it is specifically designed to be used in a future nuclear war with the United States.
The RS-28 Sarmat is an intercontinental ballistic missile that has a maximum speed of approximately 15,500 miles per hour. It is 116 feet tall, and that makes it roughly as tall as a ten story building. It can carry up to 10 metric tons of thermonuclear warheads, and those warheads can destroy an area the size of the state of Texas.
We have no defenses against the Sarmat, and so once it is launched we will get hit. It is an incredibly terrifying weapon, and many believe that it is only a matter of time before it actually gets used.
The Sarmat is the crown jewel of Vladimir Putin's very long campaign to modernize Russia's strategic nuclear arsenal...
Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has overseen efforts to upgrade the Soviet-built components of the Russian nuclear triad -- deploying hundreds of new, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, commissioning new nuclear submarines and modernizing nuclear-capable bombers.
The United States doesn't have anything like the Sarmat.
Neither does anyone else.
It has a maximum range of more than 21,000 miles, and it can carry up to 16 independently targetable nuclear warheads...
The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile has an expected range over 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) and can reportedly carry up to 16 independently targeted nuclear warheads, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a US-based nonprofit. Putin claims the range extends to more than 35,000 kilometers (21,750 miles).
Let me try to put this into language that anyone can understand.
This missile has enough range to reach any target on the entire planet.
So there is nowhere that is out of reach.
A single Sarmat can release 16 independently-targetable nuclear warheads.
That means that one missile goes up, and 16 warheads come down.
And each one of those warheads can instantly destroy an entire major city.
Russia plans to eventually produce more than 40 of these ICBMs.
According to Newsweek, a single Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile can carry enough nuclear warheads to wipe out "an area the size of Texas"...
The RS-28 Sarmat will reportedly carry a nuclear payload large enough to wipe out an area the size of Texas or France.
The Sarmat is the most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile in the entire world by a wide margin, and we have no way to defend against them.
In fact, a study that was conducted by a team of 13 physicists and engineers with the American Physical Society determined that our anti-missile defenses are so feeble that we couldn't even do much "to stop a relative handful of old-fashioned North Korean ICBMs" from reaching their targets.
But just in case we are able to improve them in the future, the Russians have equipped the Sarmat with "a host of capabilities intended to defeat ballistic missile defenses"...
The Sarmat is a silo-launched, liquid-fueled, nuclear-armed ICBM. The missile will reportedly have a host of capabilities intended to defeat ballistic missile defenses, ranging from decoys and other countermeasures to a fractional orbital bombardment capability, and independent post-boost vehicles (IPBV). There have even been suggestions that it could carry a payload of multiple hypersonic boost-glide vehicles.
If Vladimir Putin decides to push the button, we are toast.
Of course most people in the western world assume that Putin would never do that because our retaliatory strikes would destroy the Russians.
But the truth is that so much has changed over the past couple of decades.
The Russians now have the most sophisticated anti-missile systems in the world by a very wide margin, and we are still relying on extremely outdated Minuteman ICBMs that first went into service in the 1960s and 1970s.
If we launched our extremely outdated ICBMs at the Russians, are you sure that they would get through?
The balance of power has shifted dramatically, and most people in the western world have no idea.
Earlier this week, the Russians conducted a test launch of the Sarmat that Putin called an "unconditional success"...
The test-launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region took place at 11:15 a.m. Moscow time today, according to the Kremlin. Around half an hour later, Russian officials said that the missile hit its target at the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East.
The commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, Sergei Karakayev, informed Putin of the successful test. The Russian leader monitored the launch via video link from his office bunker.
Putin called the test a "major event and unconditional success."
This should have received a lot more attention from the media in the western world, because it is a huge story.
According to Putin, Sarmat missiles will start entering combat service by the end of this calendar year...
Putin said that the nuclear-armed Sarmat missile would enter combat service at the end of the year. It was built to replace the aging Soviet-built Voyevoda.
"This is the most powerful missile in the world," Putin declared, adding that the combined power of the Sarmat's individually targeted warheads is more than four times higher than that of any Western counterpart.
In contrast, the next-generation U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile, the LGM-35 Sentinel, is scheduled to enter combat service in the early 2030s.
In other words, we are way behind.
The Russians are also in the "final stages" of development for two other exceedingly fearsome weapons...
Putin also announced Russia was in the "final stages" of the development of the nuclear-armed Poseidon underwater drone and the Burevestnik cruise missile powered by miniature atomic reactors.
The Poseidon is designed to explode near enemy coastlines and cause a radioactive tsunami. The Burevestnik has virtually unlimited range thanks to nuclear propulsion, allowing it to loiter for days, circling air defenses and attacking from an unexpected direction.
In the future, a Poseidon drone armed with a nuclear weapon could be lurking just off the east coast and we would never even know it.
Once it explodes, a gigantic wall of radioactive water could come sweeping over Washington D.C. or New York City in just moments.
The Russians have been feverishly preparing for the wars of the future.
Meanwhile, our leaders have been focused on other things.
So let's hope that a shooting war between the United States and Russia does not erupt any time soon, because it would not go very well for us.
