Russia has successfully tested the super-heavy thermonuclear missile RS-28 Sarmat. The Russian Defense Ministry has released images of the missile which would be capable of wiping out areas the size of Texas and France.
The RS-28 Sarmat missiles can be armed with 24 Avangard, hypersonic gliders, each of which is capable of carrying its own nuclear cargo. There is currently no method of defense against the Avangards, as they are capable of traveling 20 times faster than sound. Missile systems Sarmat and Avangard which will be operational by 2020. Russia successfully tested Avangard twice in 2016. A third test in October 2017 failed and ended in a crash before hitting the target. The Sarmat intercontinental heavy ballistic missile, which Russia has been testing since last year, will replace the reliable Soviet-era R-36M2 Voyevoda (SS-18 Satana) ICBM. Developed by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, the new Sarmat hypersonic missile is capable of striking targets across both the North Pole and the South Pole. "The missile's multifunctional combat platform allows the use of all types of warheads, including those that they are still on the drawing board, ”the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces, Colonel Karatayev, told Sputnik. "The new missile is capable of engaging long-range targets with multiple flight paths as its onboard flight control system ensures pinpoint accuracy," he added. The Sarmat has virtually no range limits and is capable of overcoming all existing missile defense systems. "With the US-developed global missile shield, which has been placed in countries around Russia, we have taken steps to effectively neutralize this threat to our security," Karatayev added. During his State of the Nation address on March XNUMX, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has successfully tested a completely new type of armament "that has no equal in the world" - the Sarmat ICBM, in fact, which is capable of carrying a wide range of nuclear weapons. Putin announced the start of active testing on the Sarmat missile system, stating that the new weapons would be invulnerable to interception as its capabilities allow it to bypass any missile defense. "Efforts (sanctions) to contain Russia have failed," Putin said proudly, speaking against the background of video clips of the new weapons, which include drones, submarines, ICBMs and a hypersonic missile that "targets the target like a meteorite. . "