SCI FI

‘Unstoppable’ nuclear torpedo built by Russia to devastate cities with radioactive tsunamis

Joe Barnes
Mon, 16 January 2023 

The new torpedoes would be carried on the Belgorod nuclear submarine - Twitter

Russia has built the first examples of an “unstoppable” nuclear torpedo intended to devastate coastal cities by creating radioactive tsunamis, state media has claimed.

"The first set of Poseidons have been manufactured, and the Belgorod submarine will receive them in the near future," Tass, a Russian state news agency reported, quoting an unnamed defence source.

The Poseidon nuclear torpedo has its roots in Soviet plans for a weapon that would be able to render coastal cities on the shores of the United States uninhabitable.

Since the war in Ukraine began, Kremlin propagandists have often threatened to destroy London using the torpedo.

First unveiled by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, in 2018, both US and Kremlin officials believe that the torpedo is a new breed of retaliatory weapon.

The 24 metre long torpedo was designed to travel up to 80mph underwater carrying a two megaton nuclear warhead - more than 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Christopher Ford, then US assistant secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation, warned in 2020 that the weapons were being designed to “inundate US coastal cities with radioactive tsunamis".

The US Naval Institute, a military think tank, said the development of Poseidon turned assumptions about submarine-launched nuclear weapons upside down.

The weapon is expected to enter into service around 2027, but has reportedly been blighted by technical difficulties.

In November last year, US intelligence officials reported that initial sea tests had failed.

The torpedo had been due to be tested in the Arctic on the Belgorod - which, at 178 metres long, is the largest submarine in the world.

But the vessel returned to port at Severomorsk, the Russian Northern Fleet base, without any evidence the Poseidon had been tested, according to reports.

Tass reported that the submarine's crew had since completed tests with models of the torpedo.

Analysts, however, say the Kremlin has a history of exaggerating the capability of newly developed weapons.

Justin Crump, of Sibylline, an intelligence and geopolitical risk company, said: “While the Poseidon is certainly a new form of weapon, it is principally a deterrent in nature, designed to avoid missile defence mechanisms.

"Kremlin-sponsored rhetoric about the weapon has often been overblown, particularly the claims aimed at the UK."

There are very few confirmed public details of the weapon apart from apparent Russian simulations of it striking enemy aircraft carriers and coastlines.

Last year, a Russian broadcaster played an animated video which purported to demonstrate how a Poseidon torpedo could "plunge Britain into depths of the sea".

On his Sunday evening prime time show, Dmitry Kiselyov, a leading Kremlin propagandist, said the weapon could be used to turn Britain into a wasteland by drowning it in a 500 metre tsunami of radioactive seawater.

And in response to Britain's decision to send 14 Challenger II tanks to Ukraine, retired general Andrey Gurulev, another Putin loyalist, said the country should be "demolished from the face of the Earth".

 

Russia supposedly produces first Poseidon nuclear torpedoes


Ukrainska Pravda
Mon, 16 January 2023 

Russian media outlets have stated, citing their sources, that the occupiers have produced the first set of Poseidon nuclear torpedoes that are to be deployed at the Belgorod nuclear submarine.

Source: Kremlin-aligned news outlet TASS referring to their own sources; Ukrainian portal Militarnyi

Quote: "According to the source, separate tests of main components, including a nuclear power unit, have been successfully completed."

Details: Nevertheless, it is reported that there is no official confirmation of this information yet.

In June 2022, the source of the Kremlin-aligned news outlet said that the Belgorod was running through tests in the Barents Sea.

The first carrier of Poseidon nuclear submarine UAVs is the Belgorod submarine of the 09852 project. It was launched on 23 April 2019.

American outlets stated in the beginning of November 2022 that some possible tests of a new nuclear-powered torpedo could be prepared.

At the time, the US said that the Belgorod submarine was among the vessels that were taking part in preparing tests for a nuclear weapon.

However, the US detected that Russian vessels left their training ground in the Arctic Ocean and returned to the port without conducting any tests.

The US Intelligence reported that this could indicate Russians having some troubles.

For reference: The Poseidon torpedo is a nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicle capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear munitions. Its nuclear propulsion system gives the Poseidon virtually limitless range. It is essentially a nuclear torpedo.

American officials said earlier that the Poseidon’s main purpose is to cause a massive nuclear tsunami that would flood and irradiate coastal cities.

There is no detailed information regarding parameters of this weapon.

The tests of the torpedoes are conducted on the K-329 Belgorod nuclear submarine; after this, the vessel will join the Pacific Fleet of the Naval Forces of the Russian Federation.

One of the Belgorod's main tasks is to carry Poseidon nuclear torpedoes.

A defined assignment of this nuclear torpedo is to carry nuclear munition to the coast of a possible enemy and hit infrastructure and guaranteed unacceptable damage: radiation, tsunami, etc.

The Poseidon can develop the speed over 200 kilometres per hour and the immersion depth of not less than 1 kilometre.

Probable appearance of the Poseidon nuclear torpedo

PHOTO FROM MILITARNYI