Russia is preparing to carry out test launches of its 100-tonne ‘Satan 2’ ballistic missile, also known as RS-28 Sarmat.
The next generation intercontinental ballistic missile can ‘beat any defences’ and wipe out entire countries, according to Russia’s military.
The weapon has been in the pipeline since 2009 and is now ready after several setbacks, with initial trials to be carried out before the end of the year, sources claim.
Launches will be held at the Plesetsk testing ground in west Russia and, if successful, the weapon could by in use by 2019 – 2020.
It could deliver warheads of 40 megatons – 2,000 times as powerful as the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
‘The main aim is to check the rocket’s systems at the moment of leaving the silo, the switching on of the Sarmat’s first stage and the following five seconds [of flight],’ a source told Kommersant newspaper.
The RS-28 Sarmat missile, dubbed Satan 2 by Nato, has a top speed of 4.3 miles (7km) per second and has been designed to outfox all anti-missile shield systems, writes The Times.
It is expected to have a range of 6,213 miles (10,000 km), which would allow Moscow to attack London and other European cities as well as reaching cities on America’s west and east coasts.
Russia unveiled the first images of its largest ever nuclear missile in October 2016.
According to defence military television channel Zvezda, it could carry a payload able ‘wipe out UK, France or Texas’.
First tests were planned for last year but were delayed. There were then further delays in March and April.
The missile will replace the R-36 Voevoda, which Nato dubbed ‘Satan’ back in the 1970s.
It will be used by Strategic Missile Troops in Krasnoyarsk and Orenburg regions
Defence minister Sergei Shoygu is said to be monitoring its development daily.
It could eventually be a carrier for Object 4202 – a hypersonic warhead that would detach from the missile.
In 2011, Russia said it was implementing a $650 billion (£493 billion) programme to renew its nuclear deterrent and Mr Shoygu said it is ‘sticking strictly’ to its rearmament programme.
Russia is also developing the Barguzin railroad combat missile complex, it was revealed in July of this year.
The Barguzin ‘ghost trains’ can travel 1,500 miles (2,400 km) in a day and will be disguised as ordinary passenger or freight trains, making them virtually impossible to identify.
Both nuclear weapons are being made more sophisticated and potentially devastating as tensions between Russia and the US escalate.
Writing in July of this year, Pravda, the official newspaper of Russia’s Communist Party reported that the ‘Satan 2’ missile and the Barguzin missile complex are ‘on the level of absolute readiness…for their implementation, should the relevant decision be made to include the projects in the state armament program’.
The Barguzin nuke train complex is an improvement on a previous design that has been in development since the 1960s.
The train, which is packed with ballistic missiles, can be stopped in their tracks at a moment’s notice to deploy the huge rocket launchers.
The missiles are normally launched from the road, but the nuke trains mean they will be able to travel further in much less time.
The ‘undetectable’ deadly trains will be poised to strike at a moment’s notice on the dawn of World War 3.
First tests reportedly happened in November.
Russian defence expert Victor Murakhovsky said the new trains would prove to be a ‘sheer nightmare’ for foreign spies.
During the time of the Soviet Union, Russia also used rail-mobile missile systems, known as ‘Molodets’, with 12 nuclear trains stationed in the Kostroma, Perm and Krasnoyarsk regions, each carrying three missiles.
They came into service in 1987, just a few years before the collapse of the USSR, and the West dubbed the Soviet weapon ‘ghost trains.’
The ghost trains, which carried missiles weighing more than 100 tonnes each, were disposed of between 2003 and 2005.
The missiles on the new trains will weigh less than 47 tonnes, making the replacement nuke trains much more efficient.
Daily Mail
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