Russia to deploy new Sarmat nuclear missile

Russia is set to deploy its nuclear-capable Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by the end of the year, a system President Putin has described as “the most powerful missile in the world”

RS-28 SARMAT (SS-X-30 Satan 2)

Second stage
Third stage
First stage

Max payload: 10 tonnes or 10-15 MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable re-entry Vehicles)

Basing:
Length:
Diameter:
Weight:

Silo-based
35.3 metres
3 metres
208.1 tonnes

Propulsion: PDU-99 liquid-fuelled rocket engine, derived from RD-274 engine

Each MIRV, which can be aimed at different targets, has explosive yield of up to 750 kilotons. Hiroshima atomic bomb was around 15 kilotons

Max range:
35,000km (Putin claim) –
18,000km (Western analysts)

Both cited ranges are more than enough to hit any city in U.S. from Russian territory

Sarmat can reportedly deliver Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), capable of manoeuvring sharply outside rocket’s trajectory at up to 27 times the speed of sound (around 34,000 km/h)


Sources: Reuters, Global Security, CSIS, Interfax
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