Poseidon underwater vehicle — what is known about the "Doomsday weapon"

On October 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the successful testing of the Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle capable of carrying a thermonuclear charge. According to the head of state, it has no analogues in the world, and its capacity exceeds that of the promising Sarmat intercontinental missile. In the West, the development has already been called a "Doomsday weapon." Izvestia tells us what is known about Poseidon.

Tests of the Poseidon underwater vehicle — what Putin said

On Wednesday, October 29, Putin visited the Central Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow. During the conversation with the participants of the special operation, the president announced the successful testing of the Poseidon underwater vehicle.

"For the first time, we managed not only to launch it with a launch engine from a carrier submarine, but also to launch a nuclear power plant on which this device has passed a certain amount of time," the Russian leader said.

The Head of State stressed that Poseidon has no analogues in the world in terms of speed and depth of diving. Moreover, it surpasses the promising Sarmat intercontinental missile in terms of power. At the same time, its power plant is 100 times more compact than nuclear reactors installed on nuclear submarines.

The former commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, in turn, noted that the consequences of using Poseidon could be "frightening."

The Poseidon exceeds all land—based and sea-based strategic ballistic missiles in the world in terms of its impact on the enemy, and it has no analogues in the world," he said.

Russian Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev called Poseidon a Doomsday weapon in his Facebook channel. A similar opinion is shared by the journalists of the British newspaper Express. The publication expressed the opinion that if it is used against Britain, the country "will be wiped off the face of the earth." The publication also emphasized that the device has an almost unlimited range, while it is invulnerable to Western protection systems.

The history of the Poseidon underwater vehicle

The earliest predecessor of the Poseidon can be considered the combined-cycle super torpedo with a nuclear charge T-15, the development of which started in 1949. The project did not exist for long — six years later it was curtailed due to criticism from the Navy. The torpedo had significant drawbacks: the range was only 24 km, and the nuclear-powered project 627, which was proposed to be armed with such ammunition, could carry only one T-15.

In the 1960s, the idea of creating a torpedo with an atomic engine and a nuclear warhead was also expressed by the Soviet physicist, academician Andrei Sakharov. However, it was possible to start implementing it only at the end of the 20th century. In the 1980s, the Makeev State Rocket Center and the Rubin Underwater Shipbuilding Design Bureau began developing the underwater vehicle that formed the basis of the Poseidon. And in the 1990s, Soviet scientists managed to create compact nuclear reactors for submarines, which gave them an almost unlimited range. In the 2000s, the first experimental prototypes were already launched.

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In 2015, the NTV television company in one of its reports showed a shot from the presentation of the project of the Status-6 device, capable of hitting "important objects of the enemy's economy in the coastal area." A year later, information appeared in the American media about a top—secret Russian development - an "underwater unmanned vehicle" with a nuclear warhead for attacks on US ports and cities. The device was named Kanyon.

As it turned out later, all these projects were related to the development of Poseidon — Vladimir Putin officially announced its creation in 2018.

Experts on the Poseidon underwater vehicle

Andrey Koshkin, Head of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, a military expert, told Izvestia about the advantages of Poseidon.

According to him, this is an underwater drone capable of independently moving to the shores of the enemy and staying in "sleep" mode for a long time while waiting for a command. At the same time, the device can carry a nuclear charge with a capacity of up to a megaton, which makes it an incredibly formidable weapon.

"The special feature of Poseidon is its invulnerability to air defense and missile defense systems, which demonstrates Russia's technological superiority," the expert noted.

Port line: The Russian Federation tested the Poseidon underwater vehicle with a nuclear installation

Putin spoke about new technological weapons and called on Kiev to decide the fate of its encircled soldiers.

Dmitry Stefanovich, a researcher at the IMEMO RAS Center for International Security and co-founder of the Watfor project, pointed out that Poseidon can move at great depth at high speed, which gives room for maneuver in case of the development of enemy missile defense and missile defense systems. He added that the tasks of the complex include the defeat of naval bases and naval groups of the enemy.

Stefanovic also stressed that Poseidon is a multi—purpose ocean system, which means that in theory it can be used not only to deliver a nuclear charge.

"There may be mini-barrages or reconnaissance missions. In addition, this system requires a separate media. A special purpose is being built for him in a submarine, which is also an important point," the expert explained.

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