In October 2023, President Vladimir Putin revealed that Russia is mass-producing the RS-28 Sarmat strategic ballistic missile. He emphasized that the missile has passed state tests and is ready to be put into real combat.
Popularly called Satan II by many media, the RS-28 Sarmat is a weapon praised by Russia as “the most powerful missile in the world”.
Last October, President Vladimir Putin revealed that Russia was mass-producing the RS-28 Sarmat strategic ballistic missile. Photo: The Strategist
The RS-28 Sarmat is a new generation Russian geo-continuous ballistic missile system designed by the Makeev National Missile Center and produced by the Krasnoyarsk Manufacturing Plant, intended to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda ballistic missile, which has been active in the Russian Strategic Missile Forces since 1988.
The development of the RS-28 Sarmat began in 2009 and was launched in August 2019 at the Military Technical Forum. By February 2021, Russia began producing this ballistic missile. On April 20, 2022, Sarmat was test-launched for the first time from the Plesetsk military spaceport in the Arkhangelsk region, northern Russia.
The RS-28 Sarmat is launched from a launch well similar to the R-36M2 Voyevoda missile. The missile can be transported by rail from the production site to the military unit or placed on a four-axle trailer pulled by a heavy truck.
According to the manufacturer, the RS-28 Sarmat has a length of 35.5m, a diameter of 3m and a launch weight of 208.1 tons. The missile’s range is up to 18,000km, allowing it to attack almost any location on Earth with an error of only about 500m. The rocket is mainly made of aluminum-magnesium alloy which is more durable, lighter and can carry a large load. Composite materials are also used in storage boxes and launch tanks to reduce radar signatures.
The RS-28 Sarmat is a 3-stage ballistic missile using liquid fuel, equipped with a multi-target independent reentry warhead (MIRV) and can carry 178 tons of fuel. This missile can carry from 10 to 15 nuclear warheads estimated to have a destructive power of tens of megatons. The missile is also equipped with a variety of decoys to deceive the enemy defense system.
The RS-28 Sarmat is equipped with the RD-274 engine in the first stage and the warheads on the Sarmat can reach the target at a speed of Mach 20.7 (about 25,500 km/h), with a complex flight trajectory, almost impossible to intercept.
Performed by: QUANH OAN. Source: Defense TV
Quynh Oanh (Theo Army Recognition, Bulgarian Military)