‘World’s deadliest weapon’ explodes during Russian testing

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/23/worlds-deadliest-weapon-explodes-during-russian-testing/

18 Comments

  1. **From The Telegraph’s James Kilner:**

    A Russian missile touted as the “world’s deadliest weapon” failed to launch for the fourth time on Saturday, exploding as it was being refuelled at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome 500 miles north of Moscow.

    Satellite images showed that the nuclear-capable[ Sarmat RS-28 missile](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/02/22/putin-tried-failed-launch-satan-ii-missile-biden-kyiv/), nicknamed “Satan-2”, left a crater on the launchpad, with damage visible to surrounding roads and buildings.

    “The missile detonated in the silo, leaving a massive crater and destroying the test site,” said MeNMyRC, an open-source investigation project.

    Four fire engines photographed at the test site had been “responding to a forest fire” that was probably linked to the failed launch, the project added.

    “The Sarmat is a liquid-fuelled missile so this accident could have occurred separate from the actual launch activity,” it said.

    The failed launch happened a week after a member of [Vladimir Putin](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/23/russia-woke-west-putin-uk-liberal-agenda/)’s security council warned that a Sarmat missile could strike the [European Parliament](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/14/europe-parliament-fine-10000-sacked-whistleblower-mep-fraud/) in Strasbourg in under four minutes.

    “For your information, the flight time of the Sarmat missile to Strasbourg is three minutes 20 seconds,” [Vyacheslav Volodin](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/13/moscow-british-diplomats-expelled-russia-ukraine-zelensky/) said in response to an EU vote that recommended allowing [Ukraine ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/russia-ukraine-invasion-live/)to strike Russia with [Western missiles](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/15/ukraine-missiles-atacms-storm-shadow-humble-putin-crimea/).

    The Kremlin has declined to comment on the incident but [Pavel Podvig](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/11/how-likely-nuclear-war-russia-threat-weapons-nukes/), a senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Studies, agreed that a Sarmat missile had exploded before a test launch.

    “Looks like the Sarmat test was not quite successful, to put it mildly. It’s a big crater,” Mr Podvig said.

    The Sarmat is known to have had only one successful launch, in April 2022.

    The [Kremlin ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/26/putin-will-soon-turn-his-war-machine-on-britain/)has promoted the Sarmat programme as its core nuclear missile, producing slick videos using computer-generated graphics showing it delivering death to hundreds of thousands of people on the other side of the world within minutes of being launched.

    Vladimir Putin unveiled the missile in 2018 as a replacement for the smaller original “Satan”. It was intended to support his promise of nuclear war if his [“red lines”](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/15/ukraine-kursk-invasion-nuclear-putin-escalation-bluff/) were crossed, although analysts have said that these threats appear increasingly empty.

    **Article Link:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/23/worlds-deadliest-weapon-explodes-during-russian-testing/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/23/worlds-deadliest-weapon-explodes-during-russian-testing/)

  2. Careless_Brain_7237 on

    Imagine a world where the money spent on killing people & destroying the planet was spent on improving people’s lives? *hits bong

  3. Nope, the WEAPON didn’t explode, the Delivery system exploded… if the weapon exploded, we would have a much bigger problem than a tiny hole in the ground.

  4. This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/23/worlds-deadliest-weapon-explodes-during-russian-testing/) reduced by 72%. (I’m a bot)
    *****
    > A Russian missile touted as the "World's deadliest weapon" failed to launch for the fourth time on Saturday, exploding as it was being refuelled at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome 500 miles north of Moscow.

    > "For your information, the flight time of the Sarmat missile to Strasbourg is three minutes 20 seconds," Vyacheslav Volodin said in response to an EU vote that recommended allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with Western missiles.

    > The Kremlin has promoted the Sarmat programme as its core nuclear missile, producing slick videos using computer-generated graphics showing it delivering death to hundreds of thousands of people on the other side of the world within minutes of being launched.

    *****
    [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/1fo7xrg/worlds_deadliest_weapon_explodes_during_russian/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ “Version 2.02, ~694246 tl;drs so far.”) | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr “PM’s and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.”) | *Top* *keywords*: **missile**^#1 **Sarmat**^#2 **launch**^#3 **test**^#4 **nuclear**^#5

  5. The Russian’s do this on a budget. SpaceX charges the US billions to destroy rockets & launch sites.

  6. Haha! Got the drop on you with *my* disintegrating pistol! And brother — when it disintegrates, it disintegrates.

  7. As if all the money that should have gone into research, development, and maintenance of this program has disappeared into various oligarchs’ pockets…

    Curious.

  8. It’s always confusing to me how people can think they are on the good side of history when calling their missiles Satan…

  9. It’s about 3000km from the launch site to Strasbourg – so to cover that distance in 4 minutes, I think this missile would need to be doing an average of 45,000km/h or about Mach 36

    Or are my numbers way off? That seems pretty quick

  10. It could still be the deadliest weapon. That statement doesn’t clarify who it’s deadly to. In this case, it’s the user.