The National Interest:
Of the six strategic weapons unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin at his oft-cited 2018 annual state-of-the-nation address, “RS-28 Sarmat” is among the most consequential.
Dubbed “Satan 2” in NATO reporting, Putin described Sarmat as a “heavy,” uninterceptable ICBM with “practically unlimited range.”
Sarmat has since been hailed as the imminent future of Russian counterforce capability; a 200-ton, mach 10, liquid-fuelled weapon that’s orders of magnitude more powerful than the four-decades-old Soviet RS-36M missile it is replacing.
But updates have been scant over the remainder of 2018, nor has the Kremlin offered a concrete development timeline. So, where is Sarmat? Potentially right around the corner, according to a recent series of Kremlin statements.
At a Kremlin military ceremony held last week, Putin gave a speech on the need to “meld Russian military tradition with the latest, cutting-edge knowledge, technology, and ability to effectively apply them…”
