Russia working to put longest-range ICBM Satan II on combat duty despite failures
Russia is working to put its RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on “combat duty”, Russian state news agency Tass said on Wednesday.
The 35-metre-long missile, which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, is also known as “Satan II” and has been referred to as “the world’s deadliest weapon” — despite being beset by testing failures and delays in recent years.
Russian strategic missile forces commander Col-Gen Sergei Karakayev said that work continues to place the missile on “combat duty” in an article for the Russian defence ministry’s research and methodological journal, Tass reported.
“As of today, fifth-generation Yars and Avangard missile systems have been introduced in the strategic missile forces,” he said. “Work continues on placing the newest silo-based Sarmat missile system with a liquid-fueled super-heavy missile on combat duty.”
The timing of the announcement comes amid fears of a nuclear escalation after Russia expanded its nuclear doctrine, and fired an intermediate range ballistic missile at Dnipro in Ukraine last week.
Moscow claims the attack was in response to the US, UK and France permitting Kyiv’s use of long-range Western-made weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory.
“From that moment, a regional conflict in Ukraine previously provoked by the West has acquired elements of a global character,” Russian president Vladimir Putin said on television.
Experts say the Satan II is more powerful than the “Oreshnik” missile Russia fired at Dnipro, with a significantly longer and heavier warhead and a range of 18,000km – theoretically putting London or Washington within striking distance.
The missile is one of six Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Putin in March 2018 to replace its antiquated Soviet-era nuclear weapons systems.
In October 2023, Putin said the RS-28 was ready for deployment.
“By and large, Sarmat, the super heavy missile, is also ready,” Putin said at the time. “All we have left is to complete all the administrative and bureaucratic procedures and paperwork so that we can move to mass production and deploy it in combat standby mode. We will do this soon”.
Despite Putin’s claims, the missile has experienced four failed tests, most recently in September, when satellite images emerged of a large crater on a launch site in Plesetsk in northern Russia.
Military experts said at the time it was likely to be a “catastrophic failure” that points to issues with propulsion.
Alexander Lord, a defence analyst at geopolitical risk consultancy Sibylline, told i: “Putin has claimed its a bureaucratic issue that is stopping mass production but the latest failed attempt reflects deeper issues with the technology.
“The Russians want to reduce Western satellites’ ability to detect them, to ultimately reduce any chances of interception – but this technological advancement is causing Russia problems.”
Despite the persistent nuclear sabre-rattling from Moscow, analysts say the attempts by Putin to expand its weapons systems are to act as a deterrent, and have downplayed the importance of any changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
Lord said: “This is part of Moscow’s nuclear theatre, a carefully choreographed campaign to influence decision-makers in Europe by deterring their support for Ukraine.”
