Russia’s Satan missiles to be SUPERSIZED with even more powerful weapon

Currently, ‘Voevod’ or ‘Satan’, as they are known in the West, remain the most powerful Russian ICBMs and the most effective in the deployment of a missile defence system.

But in an interview with Russian newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, deputy defence minister Yury Borisov said it will be replaced with a bigger and better missile. 

He said: “We developed a new product, which, of course, has improved characteristics and a starting weight of over 200 tons, and increased energy capabilities that make it possible to practically use this missile from any direction. 

“It can fly through both the North and South Pole due to the fact that it has significantly increased range in relation to the Voevod. 

“And the ability to derive a serious payload allows us to apply a variety of “stuffing” – combat units that, in combination with heavy false targets, effectively overcome all kinds of missile defense elements.

“It is necessary to solve the problem of selection, it is necessary to have a multi-echelon missile defense system, where interceptor missiles can be used on various sections of the ballistic trajectory. 

“The most attractive, of course, is to shoot down a ballistic missile at the start, when it is in the active section of the flight. 

“So, for our novelty ‘Sarmat’, this active site is much smaller than that of its ancestor ‘Voevoda’. This is what makes the new ICBM less vulnerable.”

The missile can also be equipped with hypersonic units that can change the trajectory of the flight and skirt the terrain, making it harder to detect.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Defence Ministry, together with the rocket and space industry, had started actively testing the new Sarmat missile system. 

Satan was adopted by the Strategic Missile Force of the former Soviet Union in August 1988 but its first launch two years prior failed after the propulsion engine didn’t start, which saw the missile collapse onto the launcher.

The first successful launch took place a year later at the test site of the Ministry of Defence in Baikonur. A total of 26 test launches were carried out, 19 of them successful.

It weighs 211 tons and has a flight range of 11,000km and can carry up to ten nuclear-separated individual point-of-attack combat units, with the point of each warhead weighing 800 kilotons.