Image of the Poseidon torpedo provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2020. Photo: Russian MoD / WillWest News / Profimedia
Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia had tested the Poseidon nuclear super-torpedo and that the test was a great success, Reuters reports.
US and Russian officials have described the Poseidon as a new class of retaliatory weapon, capable of unleashing radioactive waves into the ocean that would render coastal cities uninhabitable.
The Kremlin leader said Wednesday in a discussion with soldiers wounded in the war in Ukraine that the test took place on Tuesday.
“For the first time, we managed not only to launch it with a launch engine from a carrier submarine, but also to launch the nuclear power unit on which this device spent a certain period of time,” Putin said.
“It is a huge success,” Putin said, adding that the power of the Poseidon exceeded that of the Sarmat ICBM.
The new announcement, part of a Russian strategy
The Kremlin leader's comments come just days after he announced that Russia had tested its new cruise missile that has both nuclear propulsion and the ability to carry a nuclear warhead, the Burevestnik, “a truly unique system.”
According to the US think tank the Institute for the Study of War, “Russia's Burevstnik missile parade and veiled nuclear threats are part of the Kremlin's broader efforts to use a carrot-and-stick strategy, unrelated to the war in Ukraine, to get the United States to make concessions on the war.”
“The Kremlin similarly paraded the Oreshnik ballistic missile after its test in Ukraine in November 2024 as part of nuclear intimidation efforts aimed at persuading the West to reduce its support for Ukraine, but that effort failed after failing to achieve the Kremlin's desired effect,” ISW added in its assessment late Monday.
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What is known about Poseidon
The “Poseidon superships” are designed as retaliatory weapons, that is, designed to respond to a nuclear attack on Russia, according to a 2023 material on the subject by Il Giornale.
“This principle is reflected in the construction technology of the torpedo: Poseidon, in fact, having nuclear propulsion, is not only capable of striking at a very long distance, but can also remain 'on hold' to be activated for an indefinite period of time,” the Italian newspaper explained.
The torpedo is designed to bypass undetected coastal defense systems, such as those of the US, according to CNN.
Moreover, this type of weapon, with a capacity of several megatons, could cause radioactive waves in coastal areas, making them uninhabitable for a long time.
“This nuclear 'mega-torpedo' is unique in world history,” said US naval expert HI Sutton. “The Poseidon is a completely new category of weapon. It will reshape naval planning in both Russia and the West, leading to new requirements and new counter-weapons,” he said.
Both U.S. and Russian officials said the torpedoes could launch multi-megaton warheads, causing radioactive fallout that would render portions of the targeted coastline uninhabitable for decades.
An unmanned submarine and de facto torpedo, the Poseidon is 24 meters long and armed with a 10 megaton nuclear warhead.
Carried by a mother submarine (Belgorod or Khabarovsk), the torpedo has a maximum range of 11,500 kilometers and is considered one of the quietest and most lethal drones in the nuclear fleet, especially due to its speed and depth.
