Russia Tests 'Country Killer' Poseidon Torpedo Missile

 Russia Tests 'Country Killer' Poseidon Torpedo Missile (Photos)

🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia had tested a Poseidon nuclear-capable super torpedo and that it had been a great success.

Officially known as the “Poseidon” (by Russia) and often designated as “Kanyon” by NATO, it is not a traditional torpedo. It is best understood as a large, long-range, nuclear-powered, and nuclear-armed autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) or an intercontinental-range, nuclear-armed underwater drone.

It is massive, estimated to be over 20 meters (65 feet) long and 2 meters in diameter, making it one of the largest torpedoes ever developed. It is powered by a small nuclear reactor, giving it what is believed to be virtually unlimited range. It could traverse entire oceans without needing to surface.

It is an unmanned, autonomous vehicle. Once launched, it would follow a pre-programmed course to its target, operating independently.

The Poseidon’s design gives it a set of capabilities that differentiate it from other nuclear delivery systems like intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The primary warhead is a nuclear weapon, estimated to be in the multi-megaton range (potentially up to 2 megatons or more). For comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was about 0.015 megatons. This immense explosive yield is not just for blast damage.

Putin, drinking tea with Russian soldiers wounded in the Ukraine war at a hospital in Moscow, said that the test had taken place on Tuesday.

“For the first time, we managed not only to launch it with a launch engine from a carrier submarine, but also to launch the nuclear power unit on which this device passed a certain amount of time,” Putin said. “There is nothing like this.”

“This is a huge success,” Putin said, adding that the power of the Poseidon exceeded the Sarmat intercontinental missile, known as SS-X-29, or simply Satan II.

“The Poseidon’s power significantly exceeds the power of even our most promising Sarmat intercontinental range missile,” Putin said.

Putin last week held a nuclear launch drill and on Sunday announced that Russia has successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a nuclear-capable weapon Moscow says can pierce any defense shield.

Since first announcing the Poseidon and Burevestnik in 2018, Putin cast them as a response to moves by the United States to build a missile defense shield after Washington in 2001 unilaterally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and to enlarge the NATO military alliance.