Russia tests nuclear-capable missile that Putin calls world's best

[Celerity]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-tests-new-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-2022-04-20/



LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it had conducted a first test launch of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new and long-awaited addition to its nuclear arsenal which President Vladimir Putin said would make Moscow's enemies stop and think.

Putin was shown on television being told by the military that the missile had been launched from Plesetsk in the country's northwest and hit targets in the Kamchatka peninsula in the far east. The Sarmat has been under development for years and so its test-launch is not a surprise for the West, but it comes at a moment of extreme geopolitical tension over the war in Ukraine.

"The new complex has the highest tactical and technical characteristics and is capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defence. It has no analogues in the world and won't have for a long time to come," Putin said. "This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia's security from external threats and provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country."

Russia's nuclear forces will start taking delivery of the new missile "in the autumn of this year" once testing is complete, Tass quoted Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Roscosmos space agency, as saying on Wednesday. Russia's defence ministry said the Sarmat was fired from a silo launcher at 1512 Moscow time (1212 GMT) and the training warheads reached a test range on Kamchatka, nearly 6,000 km (3,700 miles) away in the Pacific.

snip

[sl8]

1. Is best, like Red Army. n/t

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

2. Is it just me or

does that look like what putin spread eagles to vent ?