The newest Russian strategic missile system "Sarmat" was created on the basis of the latest scientific developments and is, in fact, a new concept of strategic weapons. In front of it, experts say, any existing missile defense systems are powerless.
"Sarmat" is a fifth generation rocket, its official index is RS-28. NATO analysts have already christened it “Satan-2” (“Satan” is the conventional name of the “Voevoda” rocket currently in service with the Russian army). This weapon is unique in several ways.
First, the missile has a maximum flight range. The information is still classified, but experts believe that it is at least 16,000 kilometers. It is also known that "Sarmat" has a "global" radius of action, i.e. able to reach any point of the planet along any trajectory. This means that the rocket can reach a target on the other side of the planet, both through the North and South Poles.
But the main feature of this missile is its combat filling, namely, warheads. After the "Sarmat" brings the warhead to a height, it is divided into 14 warheads, which are already rushing directly to the target.
At the moment, the United States can present only the Minuteman-3 missile, developed back in 1972, as a similar weapon. Like Sarmat, it is based in a mine. The declared range of its flight is 13,000 kilometers. The maximum range, which was actually confirmed in tests, is 8,500 kilometers.
The Minuteman warhead contains 10 warheads, each with a capacity of 475 kilotons. The “Sarmat” has a warhead of 14 warheads, ten carry a charge with a capacity of more than 800 kilotons each, and four are used to jam and distract interceptors.
Russian military analyst Konstantin Sivkov has expressed an interesting theory about the "alternative" use of weapons. It is stipulated that it is possible to load Sarmat blocks not only with nuclear charges, but also with conventional explosive charges. Modern technologies make it possible to create an explosion effect of more than 100 megatons of TNT (for comparison: the power of the bomb dropped by the Americans on Japan was only 18 kilotons). According to Sivkov's calculations, if you hit with such a warhead into the mouth of the sleeping Yellowstone volcano, then a terrible environmental disaster cannot be avoided. The lithosphere will be broken and this will lead to an eruption, as a result of which a huge cloud of ash is formed over all the States, and about 1000 cubic meters escaping to the surface. km of lava will not only burn everything around, but also change the topography and coastline.
Vasily Khodarev
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