Russia has tested its new Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Sarmat on April 21. The Russian President said the test would make Russia’s enemies “think twice”.
- The Sarmat is named after nomadic tribes that roamed the steppes of present-day Southern Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in the early medieval period.
Salient features
- This was the first test launch of the ICMB Sarmat after having been delayed earlier in 2021.
- Sarmat was launched from Plesetsk in North West Russia with the intended target in the Kamchatka peninsula almost 6,000 km away.
- The RS-28 Sarmat (NATO name Satan-II) is reported to be able to carry ten or more warheads and decoys and has the capability of firing over either of the earth’s poles with a range of 11,000 to 18,000 km.
- It is expected to pose a significant challenge to the ground-and-satellite-based radar tracking systems of the western powers, particularly the USA.
- The ten warheads are Multiple Independently-Targetable Re-entry Vehicles and each has a blast yield of .75 MT.
- The Sarmat will also be the first Russian missile which can carry smaller hypersonic boost-glide vehicles.
(Source: IE)
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