Russia is creating a new division of nuclear submarines that can carry the Poseidon “super-torpedoes” as early as next year, Newsweek reported Tuesday.
Newsweek reports that the Russian state news agency Tass said Monday that the new submarines capable of carrying the new ordinance will be deployed in the Russian Pacific fleet by the end of next year, or in early 2025.
Reuters reported in January that the “super torpedoes” are described as a “retaliatory” weapon capable of triggering radioactive ocean swells that could make coastal cities uninhabitable.
"The first set of Poseidons have been manufactured, and the Belgorod submarine will receive them in the near future," TASS, a state news agency, quoted the source as saying at the time.
With its own attached nuclear power source, the new torpedoes are compared to a cross between a torpedo and a drone that can be launched from a nuclear submarine, and can operate at high speeds and at “extreme depths” with the purpose of striking and devastating shorelines, according to the report.
"They are very low noise, have high maneuverability and are practically indestructible for the enemy,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time. “There is no weapon that can counter them in the world today."
According to Newsweek, the torpedoes are estimated to be about 66-feet in length. With a range of around 6,200 miles.
The report said the initial deployment is believed to be slated for the peninsula of Kamchatka in the far eastern section of the country.
In February, Putin said during an address that the nation planned on expanding its nuclear capabilities with the torpedoes and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
“As before, we will pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad,” the Journal reported Putin saying in an address marking a national holiday in Russia that honors the country’s armed forces. Russia’s nuclear arsenal includes air, land, and sea delivery systems.
Putin has said the new generation of Russian Sarmat ICBMs would have the ability to strike any target on the globe from Russia, and could carry around 10 warheads each.
It is believed that the new missiles were tested last year and are set to replace the SS-18 ICBM, a “mainstay” of the Russian nuclear arsenal, the report said.
“The Sarmat reflects the modernization of the Russian nuclear force, but it does not alter the strategic nuclear balance,” Rob Soofer, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former senior Pentagon official told the Journal in February.
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