TheSarmat is one of six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian presidentVladimir Putin on 1 March 2018.[15] The RS-28 Sarmat made its first test flight on 20 April 2022.[16] On 16 August 2022, a state contract was signed for the manufacture and supply of the Sarmat strategic missile system.[17] The missile officially entered operational service in September 2023, as the world's longest range and most powerful extant ICBM system.[18] Despite the Russian claims that the missile is on 'combat alert', since its 2022 flight test, it has experienced four failed tests, the most recent on 21 September 2024.[19]
In February 2014, a Russian military official announced theSarmat was expected to be ready for deployment around 2020.[20] In May 2014, another official source suggested that the program was being accelerated, and that it would, in his opinion, constitute up to 100 percent of Russia's fixedland-based nuclear arsenal by 2021.[21][22]
In late June 2015, it was reported that the production schedule for the first prototype of theSarmat was slipping.[23] The RS-28Sarmat was expected to become operational in 2016.[24]
On 10 August 2016, Russia successfully tested the RS-28's first-stage engine named PDU-99.[25]
In late December 2017, the first successful launch test of the missile was carried out at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome inArkhangelsk Oblast. According to the report, the missile flew several dozen kilometers and fell within the test range.[27][28]
On 1 March 2018, Russian presidentVladimir Putin, in hisannual address to the Federal Assembly, said that "the active phase of tests" of the missile had begun.[29] Shortly after, an anonymous military source was cited as saying that the 2007 information about the Sarmat missile had been leaked to the U.S. deliberately.[30] On 30 March 2018, theRussian Defence Ministry published a video showing theSarmat performing its second successful test-launch at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.[31]
On 24 December 2019, during the exhibition of the modern weapon systems at theNational Defense Management Center, it was reported thatSarmat is capable of a "35,000 km (22,000 mi)sub-orbital flight". The trials of the "missile complex" were expected to be completed in 2021, and, during the 2020–2027 period, "twenty missile regiments are planned to be rearmed with the RS-28".[32]On 20 April 2022, according to the Russian Defense Ministry:
At 15:12 Moscow time at the Plesetsk state test cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region, a Sarmat fixed-based [sic] intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully launched from a silo launcher.
After the test, on 22 May,Roscosmos headDmitri Rogozin warned that 50 new RS-28 Sarmat/SS-X-30 intercontinental nuclear missiles will soon be combat ready.[34]
On 18 February 2023, a test of the RS-28 missile was conducted by the Russian Federation; the US claimed that this test was unsuccessful, but this has not been confirmed or denied by the Russian government.[35]
On 1 September 2023, Roscosmos Director GeneralYuri Borisov said the weapon system had been placed on official combat duty.[36][37]
FIRMS imagery of the 20 and 21 September 2024 fire at Plesetsk with first detection at 2024-09-20 23:52:00 (UTC)
On 22 September 2024, defense related media reported that an RS-28 test at Plesetsk Cosmodrome had failed. They citedPlanet Labs imagery from the previous day showing fire trucks near a destroyed launch silo andNASA'sFIRMS data confirming a fire at the location.[38][39][40] As of 24 September 2024[update], Russian authorities had not commented on the test.Maxar imagery also from 21 September showed a 62 m (203 ft) wide crater where the launch silo had been. September 19 saw cancellation of warnings issued some days before that pilots should avoid the airspace along a planned missile launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Analysts interpreted this to mean that on September 19 or 20 a test failed in or on top of the launch silo. The failure could be the missile either exploding during ignition, falling back into or near the launch silo and then exploding, or possibly that a September 19 launch was scrubbed with subsequent defueling leading to an explosion. The test failure and the launch silo destruction led analysts to believe that subsequent RS-28 testing would be delayed.[41][42][43]
The Sarmat is a three-stage, liquid-fueled missile with a range of 18,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) and a launch weight of 208.1 tonnes (204.8 long tons; 229.4 short tons). The missile is 35.3 metres (116 ft) long and 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter. Designated a "heavy" ICBM, the Sarmat can load a wide variety of warhead options. According to Russian media, Sarmat is capable of carrying 10 tonnes of payload,[44] of ten 750kiloton,[45] 15 or 16 lighterMIRVwarheads,[46] and 3Avangardhypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs)[47] or a combination of warheads and severalcountermeasures againstanti-ballistic missile systems.[48] The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the missile is Russia's response to the U.S.Prompt Global Strike system.[21]
The RS-28 is reportedly housed in a modified 15P718M silo launching system.
According to Russian state media sources, RS-28's launch sites were to be equipped with the "Mozyr"[citation needed] active protection system, which is claimed to negate a potential adversary'sfirst strike advantage by discharging a cloud of metal arrows or balls kinetically that allegedly would destroy incoming bombs, cruise missiles and ICBM warheads at altitudes of up to 6 km (3.7 mi); however development of the Mozyr system ceased in 1991.[52][53][54][55][56][dubious –discuss]
