The Russian military on Wednesday announced the first successful test firing of the Sarmat ICBM, a new-generation ultra-long-range weapon that President Vladimir Putin has described as “unprecedented.”
It can be equipped with multiple nuclear or conventional warheads, each following an independent trajectory upon entering the atmosphere, and was tested and fired for the first time in a region of north-western Russia on Wednesday April 20. The missile reportedly hit its target in Russia’s Far East, 5,000 kilometers from the launch pad.
“It is truly a unique weapon that increases the military potential of our armed forces, protects Russia from external threats and makes those who try to threaten our country with wild and aggressive rhetoric think twice,” Vladimir Putin said.
This weapon is part of a series of other missiles presented by Vladimir Putin as “invisible” in 2018. These include the Kinjal and Avangard hypersonic missiles.
In March, Moscow claimed to have used the Kinjal for the first time against targets in Ukraine.
The RS-28 Sarmat is a new generation weapon. A very long-range thermonuclear missile, the fifth of its generation, which Russian President Vladimir Putin said would have no equivalent.
\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddfaA test launch of the ICBM RS-28 Sarmat took place today at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia \ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddfa pic.twitter.com/xk7pinaT1y
— Liliane Pralong (@LiliPralong) April 20, 2022
The test program for this new missile will therefore continue before it is integrated into the Russian strategic forces.
Weighing over 200 tons, the Sarmat is expected to surpass its predecessor – the Voevoda missile with a range of 11,000 km. In 2019, Vladimir Putin assured that the Sarmat had “virtually no range limitation” and “can aim at targets crossing both the North Pole and the South Pole”.
A test for “routine”, “no threat”
For its part, the Pentagon assured that the Russian shooting was a “routine” test and posed no “threat” to the United States or its allies. Moscow has “duly notified” Washington of the conduct of the test, in accordance with its obligations under the nuclear treaties, and it therefore comes as no “surprise” to the US Department of Defense, its spokesman John Kirby added.