Russia revives two Soviet-era super weapon projects

With a highly developed defense science and technology, Russian military engineers not only dream of producing weapons like those in science fiction movies, but also want to revive unfinished projects that were highly appreciated during the Soviet era, according toRBTH.

Nuclear torpedoes capable of creating tsunamis

The Russian Defense Ministry is considering developing a nuclear-tipped torpedo capable of destroying enemy coastal targets with tremendous destructive power.

In 1951, Soviet Academy of Sciences member Andrey Sakharov designed a similar weapon called Project T-15. This torpedo weighed about 40 tons and was capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead with a destructive power of up to 100 Megatons (7,600 times the atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima in World War II).

The T-15 was intended to be fitted on the Project 627 "Kit" submarine, the Soviet Union's first class of nuclear-powered attack submarines. However, naval commanders at the time considered it too large, limiting the number of torpedoes carried by the submarine.

A Soviet naval expert panel recommended canceling the T-15 project, focusing instead on perfecting the smaller T-5 variant fitted with an RDS-9 nuclear warhead and easily deployable on existing Soviet submarines.

"We are inclined to revisit projects that were not implemented in the past. The idea of ​​nuclear physicist Sakharov is being studied," said Russia's top torpedo designer Shamil Aliev.

According to experts, if this type of torpedo is built, it will be capable of destroying enemy coastal targets by creating tsunamis when the 100 Megaton thermonuclear warhead is detonated in the ocean.

Nuclear-powered cruise missile

Research and development of nuclear engines for rockets was initiated by Soviet scientists in the mid-20th century. In 1978, the Soviet Union began testing the first reactor for the 11B91 nuclear rocket engine (also known as RD-0410), followed by two other engine versions, but without success.

By the early 1980s, Soviet experts realized thatThe production of nuclear engines for rockets required huge costs. Technology at that time also had difficulty solving a series of technical problems such as materials, metallurgy, thermal engineering, durability, radiation resistance and impact resistance...

At that time, the Soviet defense industry had made significant progress in building high-performance liquid-fuel rocket engines, so the nuclear engine research project for rockets was frozen.

In his State of the Nation address on March 1, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had successfully developed many "super weapons", the most prominent of which is a nuclear-powered cruise missile with "almost unlimited range", capable of strong maneuverability to avoid US defense systems and attack from the most unexpected direction.

NameThis nuclear-powered cruise missile is designated Burevestnik by Russia.Similar to the Russian X-101 missile or the American Tomahawk, but with major differences in nuclear propulsion, significantly improving the target destruction range.

The Russian military has just released a video showing Russian engineers inspecting Burevestnik cruise missiles in a large factory. The missiles are painted red, but important details on the body are covered.

Russian engineers say that despite the successful test, the design of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile's frame still needs to be revised. Some parts of the missile are being completed in factories.