Vladimir Putin threatens the United States and Europe with “weapons that can reach their territory.” The president of Russia He insists that his plans do not include attacking the West, but at the same time he warns of the “tragic” consequences that NATO’s sending of troops to Ukraine could have.
The truth is that Russia is one of the great military powers in the world and has one of the largest nuclear arsenals. But it also has other powerful weapons and innovative, some still in the testing phase, others ready to be launched by land, sea and air.
Atomic bombs in space?
On February 20, The United States affirmed that Russia could place atomic bombs in space by the end of the yearalthough he clarified that it is possible that what Putin’s regime puts into orbit are not atomic bombs, but imitations.
The National Security Council hinted that it was a weapon located in space that either runs on nuclear energy or is an atomic bomb. The second option seemed more likely, because the defunct Soviet Union was already using nuclear-powered spy satellites, like the infamous Cosmos-954, that covered a 600-kilometer strip of boreal forest with radioactivity.
The placement of nuclear weapons in space, however, is clearly prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 between the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, and to which 136 countries have since added.
Sarmat or Satn II ballistic missile
In 2018 and before cameras across the country, Vladimir Putin presented Russia’s new nuclear weapons, such as the ballistic missile Sarmatian (denominated ‘Satn II‘ by NATO) with “practically unlimited range” and that makes the US anti-missile shield “useless.” “No one in the world has anything like it, for now. It’s fantastic!” Putin claimed during the speech. It’s about a misil intercontinental of 200 tonswith a range of 18,000 kilometers and equipped with multiple warheads.
Misil hipersnico Kinzhal
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu watches a MiG-31 aircraft being loaded with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile.AP
Another advanced weapons system that Russia has is a hypersonic missile that is launched from a fighter or a bombardment and reaches a Mach-10 speed while maneuver to penetrate anti-aircraft systems. The weapon is called Kinzhalcan be equipped with a nuclear warhead and has a radius of action of 2,000 kilometers.
Russia launched its first hypersonic missile in March 2022 to destroy a Ukrainian underground missile depot. It did not carry a nuclear charge.
Missile de cruise Tsirkon
The Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov of the Russian Navy fires a Zircon hypersonic missile in the Barents Sea, in 2022..AP
In production since 2021, the first cruise missileZircon (or Zirconia) launched by Russia in the Barents Sea reached, according to Moscow, seven times the speed of sound, that is, more than 8,000 kilometers per hour. That means that it took just two and a half minutes to reach its target, located 350 kilometers away, when a Tomahawk – a conventional US cruise missile – would have taken almost half an hour.
In 2022, the crew of the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov They simulated the launch of a Tsirkon on a maritime target that imitated an enemy ship and was located at a distance of more than 900 kilometerssaid the department headed by Sergui Shoig.
Vanguard
He Vanguard is one of the “nuclear weapons never seen before“. Hypersoniccan achieve a goal at 6,000 kilometers away and stands out for its great maneuverability. It carries nuclear or conventional warheads. It should have been in service for more than a year.
Poseidn o Status 6
Con Features similar to those of an underwater drone, is designed to attack naval formations, but also enemy coasts with a nuclear warhead. “Travel” to a depth of a thousand meters already one speed of 70 knotshave a reactor as propeller. It may be difficult to intercept it. According to experts, it is not yet operational.
Burevestnik
cruise missiles propulsin nuclearwith a estimated range of 10,000 to 20,000 kilometers, advances at low altitude. The Russians, like other special vehicles, emphasize how difficult it is to stop. In 2019 there was an accident during a test with the death of some “technicians”. It is possible that it was a test of the missile system.
FAB-3000
Of Soviet design, commissioned in 1946, the Fab-3000 It weighs 3 tons and has an explosive mass of 1,400 kilos.: It has a destruction range of about 50 meters, but the fragments can reach 260, and is designed to destroy urban industrial zones and ports. It is a powerful but conventional anti-bunker weapon, already used by the USSR in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Chemical or biological weapons
Devastating ammunition explosive component associated with gases or toxins capable of spreading contagion. They can be chemical weapons – asphyxiating agents such as chlorine, blisters that attack by inhalation and contact, nerve agents – or biological weapons, such as anthrax.
tactical nuclear weapons
Shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, analysts noted that Moscow could one or more tactical nuclear weapons. Is about small atomic weapons with an explosive power that ranges from 0.3 up to 100 kilotonscompared to the 1.2 megatons of the largest US strategic nuclear warhead or the 58 megaton bomb tested by Russia in 1961.
Tactical bombs are designed to have a limited impact on the battlefield, while strategic weapons are designed to fight and win all-out wars.
However the terms “small” and “limited” are relative. The atomic bomb that the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, with devastating effect, had a power of 15 kilotons.
Russia also in any case has submarine capabilities, anti-satellite and cyber weapons that could threaten Norway and the NATO military alliance.
Russian ships with nuclear weapons
In February 2023, Norway detects Russian ships with nuclear weapons for the first time in 30 years. Moscow had already warned NATO months before that if Sweden and Finland joined the military alliance, Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in the area.
How many nuclear warheads does Russia have?
According to the estimates of the report on nuclear weapons presented last June by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), right now There are 12,512 warheads worldwide. The inventory includes retired warheads that are to be dismantled. But also 9,576 that are in military reserves ready for potential use, 86 more than in January 2022. Of the total warheads, the report says that 3,844 are deployed with missiles and aircraft, and that around 2,000, almost all belonging to Russia or the United States, remained in a “state of maximum operational alert”.
According to SIPRI, Russia was the second country that increased its nuclear arsenal the most in 2022, behind China, with 12 new warheads. Other estimates suggest that Russia has more than 5,800 nuclear warheadsalthough the figure includes those that are already out of service (about 1,500).
Russia is also increasing its conventional arsenal at a frenetic pace. Since the war in Ukraine began, has multiplied its ammunition production by 50 for light weapons and multiple launch missiles, five times the production of armored transport and in seven that of war tanks.