The russian mass media, citing the pro-kremlin agency TASS, claim that russian federation has received the first set of Poseidon nuclear torpedoes, which will be placed on the belgorod nuclear submarine. At the same time, it is reported that there is no official confirmation of this information.
☝️ There is also no detailed information about the parameters of this weapon. However, according to American sources, the unmanned underwater vehicle «Poseidon» is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear ammunition with a capacity of up to 2 megatons, developing a speed of more than 200 km/h and having a depth of immersion of at least 1 km.
❗️The main purpose of this torpedo is to deliver a nuclear munition to the shores of a potential adversary to damage the infrastructure and guarantee unacceptable damage: radioactive pollution, tsunami and other destructive consequences.
The russian publications reported on the testing of the complex in early November 2022. However, although US intelligence recorded the departure of the belgorod nuclear submarine from the test site in the Arctic Ocean, it believes that the belgorod returned to port without conducting tests due to technical difficulties.
🔸It should also be noted that the russian federation has been talking about the creation of «Poseidon» for so many years that some Western countries have already stopped believing in its existence.
Back in 2015 and 2019, putin confirmed the development of this weapon, but without demonstrating evidence. According to the russian Ministry of Defense, the torpedo is considered part of the nuclear deterrent, acting as a second-strike weapon. Once perfected, the Poseidon-equipped submarine, dubbed a «doomsday weapon» by propaganda, was said to be able to operate at depths beyond the reach of NATO boats and spend 120 days underwater.
❓But was the russian federation actually able to create such a deadly weapon?
🔸 The development and construction of «Poseidon» began in 2015, when, as a result of aggression against Ukraine, russia was already under significant sanctions. Therefore, the russian federation could use only its own technology and the same components for the production of torpedoes. That is, we should not talk about 100% compliance of the torpedo with the stated characteristics of the weapon.
In addition, as NATO Secretary General J.Stoltenberg stated, the intelligence structures of the Alliance are constantly monitoring what russia is doing in the military sphere, and so far no significant changes in their «nuclear deployment» have been detected. After all, even if the torpedo itself is invulnerable, American submarines carefully monitor its carrier – a nuclear submarine – when it goes into the ocean.
🔸According to the researchers of the American edition of The Drive, the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation unofficially admitted that the batch of «Poseidons» received in January 2023 was without nuclear warheads, and all videos with torpedo tests in public access were actually just a demonstration of checks of certain nodes during research – construction works. That is, now «super torpedoes» can be used only for another series of tests.
🔸According to the statements of the russian press, the second most impressive factor of the «supertorpedo» is the creation of an artificial megatsunami with a wave height of 500 m and its descent up to 500 km to the mainland. At the same time, according to the results of the Pentagon’s official research, the tsunami effect of underwater nuclear explosions is not achieved. Due to the dissipation of wave energy at relatively shallow depths on the continental shelf, the damage caused by such a wave to the coast is comparable to that of a severe storm.
This is confirmed by russia’s own research on the impact of waves from underwater explosions on coastal structures with mock-up tests conducted in the USSR back in the 1960s. Then the scientists found out that regardless of the power of the underwater explosion, real damage could be caused to the coastal objects of the Atlantic coast of the United States at a maximum distance of 5 km from the water line. That is, the destruction of the entire US fleet and facilities on the Atlantic coast is not even discussed.
❗️Thus, everything says that no «Poseidon» as a ready-to-use carrier of nuclear weapons exists today. Individual samples of such weapons have not yet been tested, so it is impossible to confirm the real characteristics of this «product».
All statements about the rocket’s ability to autonomously cross the entire Atlantic Ocean and at the same time deliver a particularly powerful warhead to the target are nothing more than the dreams of kremlin propagandists.
❗️Putin is returning to the tactics of «nuclear blackmail» with dubious statements about the creation of the latest nuclear weapons.
He is trying to prove to the West that russia will not stop before using nuclear weapons when its territorial integrity is threatened. However, the official statements of NATO Secretary General J.Stoltenberg indicate that blackmail will not work, and if the kremlin decides to use nuclear weapons, «serious consequences» will await russia.
