Russia tests unstoppable “Satan 2”

Business Insider quoted Valery Gerasimov, a senior Russian general, as saying that the country's military will conduct another test of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile - the most powerful nuclear ballistic missile in Russia's nuclear arsenal - also known as "Satan 2".

"The first launch of this type of missile took place at the end of December last year. Currently, all preparations are being urgently completed at the Plesetsk launch site to prepare for another test," said General Valery Gerasimov.

It is known that the RS-28 is affirmed by both President Putin and General Gerasimov to be able to defeat all current missile defense systems in the world. In addition, Moscow also revealed that "Satan 2" can be combined with a hypersonic glide vehicle to supplement the missile's "unstoppable" ability.

The first images of the RS-28 Sarmat were revealed by Russia for the first time in late October last year. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu affirmed that this is Russia's strategic deterrent weapon.

Both President Putin and General Gerasimov have affirmed that the RS-28 can defeat all current missile defense systems in the world.

French press commented that the RS-28 Sarmat missile will be a very scary weapon because it can wipe out the entire state of Texas or France in just a few seconds.

According to the Russian newspaper Gazeta.ru, the RS-28 Sarmat can carry up to 16 warheads, and has extremely large attack potential. The head of the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau (official name State Rocket Centre Academician VP Makeyev Design Bureau), abbreviated MRDB, said that the RS-28 Sarmat was created to replace the Voevoda missile systems that have exceeded their operational life, and have been used by the Russian military since the Cold War.

RS-28 Sarmat has solutions for jamming and anti-aircraft missile. The range of Sarmat is determined to be about 16,000km, allowing this ICBM to fire in a circumpolar manner. The Sarmat missile weighs 105 tons and carries a warhead weighing over 10 tons.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said that along with the long range, Sarmat also uses a dual guidance system and a new generation of self-guided warheads that maneuver on a trajectory, allowing for high-precision attacks and penetrating enemy missile defense systems at present and in the future.

Sarmat is equipped with 4 RD-274 liquid-fuel rocket engines, allowing the missile to fly at a speed of over 24,500 km/h, with a range of 11,000 km, surpassing the R-36 M Voevoda missile. The explosive yield is equivalent to the Tsar Bomba hydrogen bomb tested by the Soviet Union at Severny Island in 1961. For comparison, the 2 US nuclear bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, Little Boy, had an explosive yield of only 15 thousand tons and Fat Boy, with 21 thousand tons of TNT.

It is expected that in 2018, Russia will mass produce this type of missile and by 2021, the RS-28 will replace the old generation of SS-18 Satan missiles (weighing 211 tons) that have been in operation since 1977 under the former Soviet Union.