US authorities have confirmed the existence of a Russian unmanned submarine project capable of inflicting nuclear attack across the United States. The American media came to this conclusion after analyzing the 47-page text of the draft new US nuclear doctrine.

“In addition to the ongoing modernization of the Soviet nuclear legacy, Russia is developing new nuclear warheads and launchers. These efforts include updating each component of the nuclear triad: strategic bombers, sea- and land-based missiles. “Russia is also developing at least two new intercontinental strike systems, a hypersonic glider and a new strategic nuclear underwater autonomous torpedo,” says The Huffington Post.

It's about about the project of the nuclear robotic system “Status-6”. Previously, American authorities did not confirm information about the existence of this secret Russian project. At the end of 2016 official representative Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said the following: “We are closely monitoring the development of Russian undersea technology, but will not comment on it.” However, “Status-6” was still assigned an index according to the NATO classification - “Canyon”.

The threat of American power

It is generally accepted that Status-6 first became known “by chance” from a presentation for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The “Secret Slide” was shown on November 9, 2015 at one of the meetings on the development of the military-industrial complex.

“Indeed, some secret data was caught on camera, so it was subsequently deleted. We hope that this will not happen again,” Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on the “leak.”

However, Russian and foreign analysts were not inclined to trust the explanation of the Kremlin speaker. The expert community has established the view that Moscow deliberately allowed the Status-6 project to be demonstrated to the general public. This may indicate that the development of the underwater drone is nearing completion.

In the West, they fear that the deadly drone could become another “nuclear trump card” up Moscow’s sleeve. In such a situation, the United States will have to increase military spending, inventing new methods of countering the Russian nuclear submarine fleet.

In Russia, the Status-6 project is perceived as an additional and very effective tool to deter the United States. Considering the potential power of this nuclear drone’s warhead, analysts come to the conclusion that the project is Moscow’s asymmetric response to Washington’s policies. So destructive weapon negates US efforts to improve global missile defense and create some kind of superweapon against the Russian Federation.

It is assumed that Status-6 will ensure the guaranteed defeat of the naval bases of an overseas superpower. Mainly under threat are the berths of American submarine cruisers carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles. American missile carriers can be hit by Russian drones both during combat duty in the oceans and while in dock.

In addition, Status-6 can become a doomsday weapon. In the event of a nuclear war, drones will strike American cities, which are extremely vulnerable to the Russian submarine fleet, as they are located on the ocean coast.

Of course, in response to the appearance of Status-6 in the Russian Navy, the United States could quickly create a similar nuclear drone (it is quite possible that the Americans are already developing it). However, it is obvious that the effect of its use against the Russian Federation will be incomparable. Almost everything major cities Russia is located inside the continent.

Heir to the Soviet Tsar Torpedo

In “Status-6” Russia de facto embodies the idea of ​​the times cold war about the creation of the Tsar Torpedo ( Soviet project T-15), capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US coast. However, the T-15 is only a distant prototype of the Russian “Status-6”, which will be distinguished by advanced artificial intelligence. This robotic drone will be as autonomous as possible from its operator.

From an earlier “leak” it follows that a Russian underwater drone equipped with a mini-nuclear reactor will perform tasks at a distance of up to 10 thousand kilometers, diving to a depth of up to one kilometer. “Status-6” will be located on the nuclear-powered submarines “Belgorod” of project 949AM “Antey” and “Khabarovsk” of project 09851. Both submarines are under construction, which is expected to be completed in 2020.

The length of the drone will be 24 meters, and the combat module will be 6.5 meters. The speed of the device is amazing. It is claimed that it can reach 90 knots (166 km/h). For comparison, the American MK-48 torpedo has a speed of 55 knots. Such high-speed characteristics make the Russian drone invulnerable to interception.

Technical support and repairs of Status-6 will be carried out by the experimental diesel-electric submarine B-90 Sarov of Project 20120 and auxiliary vessels of Project 20180 Zvezdochka. The development of the drone is being carried out by the St. Petersburg Central Design Bureau MT "Rubin" - the flagship of the Russian Federation's design ideas in the field of the submarine fleet.

At the moment, only one test of “Status-6” is known. In December 2016, The Washington Free Beacon, citing US intelligence data, reported that in the fall a drone was launched into the sea from the Sarov. There is no information about the test results.

In November 2017 on the pages The National Interest published an article by analyst Michael Peck entitled “Russia is creating a very strange weapon - underwater intercontinental ballistic missiles.” The author of the material doubts that Moscow is capable of developing a nuclear drone that meets the characteristics stated in the media.

"On ocean depths There are many seamounts and canyons within a thousand meters (one American nuclear submarine almost sank after colliding with such a mountain at a depth of 160 meters). How can a Status-6 torpedo travel 10,000 kilometers without crashing into some rock if it doesn’t have an ultra-modern navigation system, or if they don’t put a kamikaze navigator at the helm?” Peck asks rhetorically.

Indeed, St. Petersburg designers will have to solve a lot of complex problems. Domestic experts admit that Russia lags far behind the United States in the development of autonomous underwater systems and artificial intelligence. At the same time, do not underestimate the capabilities of the same Rubin. At least in the West, they are convinced that Russia is making every effort to close the gap in aerial and underwater drones.

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) random, or maybe “accidental” frame from television reports? From the very beginning, I didn’t even pay any attention to this, but then the waves of this information spread so widely across the sea of ​​information media that I myself began to wonder what it could really be.

So, What became known from the “exposed booklet”?

A self-propelled underwater vehicle from the Status-6 ocean multi-purpose system, designed to “defeat important objects of the enemy’s economy,” has become one of the most discussed topics in the world. The drone “accidentally” demonstrated on federal channels has turned into a bone of contention for experts, some of whom consider it a subtle Kremlin “duck,” while others see in it a new embodiment of Professor Sakharov’s ideas.

The “Status-6” system is designed to “defeat important enemy economic facilities in the coastal area and cause guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination, unsuitable for carrying out military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time.” This is what almost all media quoted. What else do we know about her...

The carriers of the system are nuclear submarines of projects 09852 Belgorod and 09851 Khabarovsk, the first of which is being rebuilt into a special-purpose submarine from a carrier of cruise missiles, and the second is being built from scratch. Both ships are on the slipways of the Severodvinsk Sevmash.

The striking force of “Status” should be a self-propelled underwater vehicle with a range of 10,000 kilometers and a running depth of 1,000 meters.

The Central Design Bureau of Marine Equipment "Rubin" was chosen as the main executor of the system.

Most military experts call the Status-6 project a legacy of developments Academician Andrei Sakharov. His T-15 project, nicknamed the “Sakharov torpedo,” was an underwater self-propelled vehicle that was supposed to carry a thermonuclear charge to the enemy’s shores.

In his memoirs, Sakharov wrote about the T-15: “One of the first with whom I discussed this project was Rear Admiral Fomin... He was shocked by the “cannibalistic nature” of the project and noted in a conversation with me that sailors were accustomed to fighting an armed enemy in open battle and that the very thought of such a mass murder was disgusting to him.”

Sakharov proposed using Project 627 nuclear submarines developed in the 50s as a “vehicle for delivering” a powerful nuclear charge (100 megatons). According to his calculations, as a result of the explosion of such a bomb, a giant tsunami wave would be formed, destroying everything on the coast. The T-15 project remained at the level of drawings and sketches, since at that time submarine fleet The USSR did not have the capability to carry ballistic missiles.

“Here the approach is completely different. It is based on burning out and infecting all ports on the US coast. There are not that many of them - I know of only 17 of them, and not all of them can accommodate large ocean-going ships. This will automatically create insurmountable problems for the United States in logistics when waging war in Europe, and in obtaining resources from the occupied territories,” they discuss on social networks.

What are the Rubin designers famous for?

Petersburg Design Bureau specializes in the design of submarines and deep-sea special equipment. In the depths of the bureau were born the Russian strategic Borei, the diesel-electric Varshavyanka operating all over the world, and the Lada submarine with an air-independent engine operating on the principle of an electrochemical generator is in the process of development.

According to official data from Sevmash’s annual reports and government contracts, the developer of Belgorod and Khabarovsk is also Rubin.

Igor Vilnit’s subordinates also have experience in creating autonomous underwater vehicles. Back in 2007, the AUV “Harpsichord”, an almost 6-meter, 2.5-ton deep-sea robot for examining bottom objects, saw the light of day. It is capable of diving 6 km into the depths of the sea and traveling 300 km without returning to the surface.

Is there evidence of the development of a “self-propelled underwater vehicle”?

There is no doubt that in the depths of Rubin they are indeed creating a promising autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle. This is evidenced by tenders for holding components development work on the creation of a “promising current source for an AUV”, a high-pressure pumping unit for the buoyancy control system of a promising AUV”, “information and control systems and IO of a promising AUV complex”.

However, more can be gleaned from the procurement documentation detailed information it is not possible to report on the work being carried out at the bureau, so it cannot be reliably stated that the results of all of the above R&D will help Russia create that same “self-propelled underwater vehicle.” We may well be talking about a new incarnation of the already demonstrated Juno drone.

Who does “Status” report to?

If the information demonstrated to the whole world does not turn out to be a specially launched “duck”, then be happy for the addition Navy Russia new technology it still won't work. Because the commanders of Belgorod and Khabarovsk will be given orders not by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, but by the head of the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research of the Ministry of Defense, a structure separate from the fleet within the military department. Nowadays this position is occupied by Vice Admiral, Hero of Russia Alexey Burilichev.

This formation's own fleet, subordinate directly to the Minister of Defense, is very large. In addition to submarines, nuclear deep-sea stations and uninhabited underwater vehicles, the GUGI operates the oceanographic research vessel Yantar, the experimental vessel Seliger, the rescue vessel Zvezdochka, and tugboats. Several more vessels for the department and the Sviyaga covered floating transport dock are under construction.

On amateur sites military equipment it is indicated that since 1988, Russia has been developing a robotic underwater boat-based vehicle “Skif”. There are several versions about what it is. This could be a missile that can wait for launch at the bottom of the sea, or some kind of underwater projectile that travels part of the way under water and then launches a cruise missile at a ground target. The project is being led by the Rubin Central Clinical Hospital for Medical Sciences. The same design bureau is indicated in the document that was broadcast on TV.

To top it off "Putin's favorite journalist" indicates that if there was a leak about a secret Russian torpedo, it was not the first, referring to the publication in the American edition of The Washington Free Beacon on September 8 entitled “Russia is building a nuclear-armed drone submarine.”

In this article, the author of the publication, Bill Hertz, described the concept of this submarine and said that according to the American classification it was given the code name Kanyon, and all the details of this secret Russian program discussed only within a small circle of American government officials. At the same time, experts interviewed by Free Beacon called Kanyon a threat to US security and pointed to it as an example of “Russian aggressive behavior.” Domestic weapons lovers believe that this is the Skif project.

The name “Status-6” was never mentioned on the Russian Internet before the presentation was shown on television. After information about the secret device appeared, blogs began to discuss whether it was an accident or a deliberate leak. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, who usually refutes almost all information coming from unofficial sources, unexpectedly confirmed the fact of an accidental leak of one page from a secret presentation. At the same time, Peskov reacted precisely to blog posts, and not to publications in major media outlets - this story did not receive much resonance before his comment. Moreover, the Kremlin spokesman said he knew nothing about whether anyone had been punished for leaking classified information. He promised to take “preventative measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” but stopped short of promising that those responsible would be brought to justice. After Peskov’s speech, a message appeared that journalists were prohibited from filming participants in meetings with Putin, with the exception of the president himself.

Against missile defense?

The meeting with Putin was devoted to the possibilities of overcoming the American system missile defense Russian strategic weapons.

“Over the past three years, enterprises of the military-industrial complex have created and successfully tested a number of promising weapons systems that are capable of solving combat missions in the context of a layered missile defense system. Such systems have already begun to enter troops this year. And today we’ll talk about how the development of new types of weapons is going,” Putin said, opening the meeting.

According to experts, Status-6 is considered as a weapon that can potentially bypass missile defense, since this system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles and cannot attack targets in the depths of the ocean.

The American missile defense system is a strong irritant for the Russian leadership. In Moscow, despite American assurances that by deploying missile defense facilities in Europe, Washington only wants to protect its allies from attacks from rogue countries, they believe that this system is directed against Russia and is intended exclusively for the destruction of Russian ballistic missiles.

Many experts contacted by the BBC for comment said they believe the emergence of information about the new weapons is a deliberate hoax, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the West's readiness for confrontation.

A BBC source related to the military-industrial complex said that, in his opinion, the demonstration of secret documents in front of television cameras at a meeting with the president could not be an accident, and most likely this was done in order to demonstrate Russia’s readiness to resist the Western system PRO.

"Damage to objects"

The tactical and technical characteristics of the future nuclear torpedo are unknown. The document only contains the basic indicators - depth up to 1000 meters, speed - up to 185 km per hour (the document includes kilometers per hour, and not the nodes in which the speed of marine vehicles is most often measured), range - up to 10 thousand kilometers, caliber - 1.6 meters.

Nuclear submarines under construction are indicated on the page as proposed carriers. special purpose"Belgorod" of project 09852 and "Khabarovsk" of project 09851.

The document shown contains the name “Ocean multi-purpose system “Status-6”, but only one method of its application is mentioned there.

“Destruction of important enemy economic facilities in the coastal area and causing guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination, unsuitable for carrying out military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time,” it says.

Konstantin Sivkov, commenting on the appearance of information about System-6, said that a torpedo of such a project will most likely be quite large and will be able to carry a high-power nuclear charge up to 100 megatons.

“At the calculated point there will be an explosion, and the wave will rise 400-500 meters high and wash away all living things one and a half thousand kilometers deep into the territory of the United States. Moreover, explosions of such monstrous force initiate volcanic activity,” he said.

However, according to another expert, Lenta.Ru military observer Konstantin Bogdanov, it is actually too early to talk about the purpose of this torpedo. According to him, the presence of the word “multi-purpose” in the name of the project indicates that its nuclear status is not necessarily the main one.

“The combat module presented in this super torpedo can easily be intended for other purposes, including the delivery of special equipment, placement of reconnaissance equipment, and so on. We can easily get a situation where similar development work is carried out, but the actual purpose of the system may differ from what is demonstrated. But perhaps it will include this too,” he said.

Underwater arms race

As military expert Viktor Murakhovsky told the BBC, both Russia and the United States have been working in the field of military or dual-use deep-sea vehicles for many years and monitor each other’s work as much as possible. That's why new development, he believes, is unlikely to become a big sensation for the military.

“This is not a secret for the United States. They also work in this area - in the field of automatic underwater vehicles for searching and destroying submarines and uninhabited underwater vehicles,” he said.

A little more about Russian weapons: for example, and here is the opinion that The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

another one thundered interesting news about “no arms race” until 2020 and about the supposedly secret “Status 6” system, I would like to leave the news in history and understand that after all, this is something from the forgotten old (the developments of Sakharov’s T-15),

info from the wiki, everything is more or less interesting:

PS: yes, so far, even “SHKVAL” no one has been able to repeat (serially!), what else can be said about this miracle, we’re waiting....

up: I'm not me, my butt is not mine...just a random epicfail:

Dmitry Peskov admitted that the camera lenses of federal channels were unauthorized classified materials on the creation in Russia of the military ocean multi-purpose system “Status-6”. The Kremlin promised to take action

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed to reporters during a conference call on Tuesday evening that Channel One and NTV showed footage on November 9 showing the secret concept and timing of the development of the ocean multi-purpose concept "Status-6".

“Indeed, some secret data was caught on camera, so it was subsequently deleted. We hope that this will not happen again in the future,” the presidential press secretary said.

Peskov clarified that he is not yet aware of anyone being punished for this incident, but promised that the Kremlin will take preventive measures to ensure that such leaks do not recur.

We are talking about television reports from NTV and Channel One on November 9 from a meeting on the development of the military-industrial complex with the participation of President Vladimir Putin. The TV clips (now deleted) included footage of the concept and implementation time frame for the development of the Status-6 system, which was noticed by Russian bloggers.

As can be seen from the screenshot that appeared on the blogs, the developer of the system is OJSC Central Design Bureau MT Rubin. The purpose of the system is “to destroy important enemy economic facilities in the coastal area and cause guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination that are unsuitable for carrying out military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time.”

Central Design Bureau "Rubin" designs Russian submarines equipped with both ballistic missiles, and winged. As stated on the Central Design Bureau website, a series of nuclear submarine cruisers are currently being built according to the project developed by the bureau. strategic purpose fourth generation of Project 955, “which will become the basis of the naval component of strategic nuclear forces Russia XXI century."

We are talking about a project of unmanned underwater vehicles (guided torpedoes) with a nuclear warhead capable of literally washing away the coast of the United States, explained an RBC interlocutor close to the military-industrial complex. According to him, the concept of such a weapon was put forward by academician Andrei Sakharov back in the 1960s. This is a small torpedo submarine, externally controlled, capable of carrying a 100 Mt warhead. In military-industrial circles it is known as the “Sakharov torpedo.”

“This is not already existing, but only promising project. If you look carefully at the slides, they indicate the time frame for the project’s implementation - until 2025,” added the RBC interlocutor.

The slides depict two nuclear submarines as proposed carriers: the Belgorod special-purpose nuclear submarine under construction and the Khabarovsk special-purpose submarine of Project 09851, which is under construction.

The press services of NTV and Channel One were unable to provide RBC with an immediate comment.

November 2016, relations with the West are tense, to put it mildly, the world is preparing for a new round of the arms race, foreign policy rhetoric is becoming more and more hostile, a meeting is being held in the Kremlin on the development of the military-industrial complex with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin “pool”, as the journalists allowed to cover events with the participation of top officials of the state are called, are well-trained people and will not go against the will of the “father”, and any materials will undergo the necessary approvals, otherwise it is fraught with exclusion from the “close ones”. And then “accidentally” a document of the highest secrecy status appears in the frame of a television broadcast, in the header of which is emblazoned “Ocean multi-purpose system “Status-6”. Press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that these materials were not intended for wide publicity.

Shot from Channel One

What is known today

Status-6(according to NATO codification - “ Canyon") - This ocean multi-purpose system, which is being developed by the design bureau for designing submarines of OJSC TsKB MT Rubin. Materials “seen” by journalists allow us to conclude that the main component of the system is a torpedo (designated as a “self-propelled underwater vehicle”), equipped nuclear reactor. She carries nuclear warhead with a power of 100 Mgt (the power of the Tsar Bomba, for comparison, is 57 Mgt). Travel speed is 185 km/h, torpedo range is 10 thousand km, travel depth is up to 1000 m. Military experts note that such characteristics are capable of ensuring a breakthrough of the US SOSUS coastal anti-submarine system.

Simulation of nuclear pollution from Status-6 at 100 Mt without cobalt bomb/wikipedia.org

The purpose of the system is “to destroy strategically important enemy economic facilities in the coastal area and cause guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination that are unsuitable for carrying out military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time.”

Special nuclear submarines of projects 09852 Belgorod and 09851 Khabarovsk are indicated as carriers of the complex. Multi-purpose system"Status-6" should enter combat duty by 2020.

Destruction from a 100 Mt warhead. NukeMap model

On December 8, 2016, American intelligence confirmed a practical test of an underwater unmanned vehicle with nuclear power plant launched from the submarine "Sarov" on November 27. It should be noted that American intelligence expected the appearance of the first working prototype no earlier than 2019, so the high readiness of the drone, already capable of launching and moving from the mother submarine, caused significant concern among Pentagon experts.

The legacy of Academician Sakharov

Many people call the Status-6 project a legacy Academician Andrei Sakharov. His T-15 project, which received the secret nickname “Sakharov’s torpedo,” was an underwater self-propelled vehicle that was supposed to carry a thermonuclear charge to the enemy’s shores. In his memoirs, Sakharov wrote about this complex: “One of the first with whom I discussed this project was Rear Admiral Fomin... He was shocked by the “cannibalistic nature” of the project and noted in a conversation with me that sailors were accustomed to fighting an armed enemy in open battle and that the very thought of such mass murder was disgusting to him.”

Nuclear explosion Hardtack Umbrella, the beginning of the collapse of the water column / wikipedia.org

According to the academician’s proposal, Project 627 nuclear submarines, developed in the 50s, were supposed to be the “vehicle for delivery” of a powerful nuclear charge (100 megatons). As a result of the explosion of such a bomb, such a gigantic tsunami wave is formed that everything living and inanimate on the enemy’s coast was destroyed would be destroyed. The scientist, as often happens, was ahead of his time; the T-15 project remained at the level of drawings and sketches.

Multipurpose nuclear submarine (NPS) Belgorod of Project 949AM is an unfinished Russian nuclear submarine of the Antey class. Laid down at the Sevmash enterprise on July 24, 1992 under serial number 664. On April 6, 1993, it was renamed Belgorod. The construction of the nuclear submarine was frozen after the sinking of the Kursk submarine of the same type in 2000.

The Project 09851 nuclear submarine (NPS) Khabarovsk was laid down on July 27, 2014 at the same Sevmash in Severodvinsk. This is one of the most secret submarine cruisers of the Russian Navy, information about the completion of nuclear submarine construction in open access No.

Proposed type of nuclear submarine "Khabarovsk"

American experts quite expectedly reacted to the “stuffing” of information about the “Status-6” system, as in the opinion of The Daily Mirror newspaper, the fact that the demonstration of the system was carried out during a meeting on military topics, dedicated to the expansion of the US missile defense system, among other things, clearly shows , What this weapon is seen as an asymmetric response to America's actions, rendering its missile defense system useless against strategic nuclear torpedoes. Many other Western analysts share the same opinion.

The “collateral damage” of the Russia investigation is becoming increasingly clear. Russia tried to split the legislative and executive powers in the United States, undermine institutional norms, and sow distrust in law enforcement agencies and intelligence services in matters of regional crises, for example, in Syria, where the situation is increasingly out of control. This investigation brought American foreign and domestic policy to the crisis point. But behind all these woes, which mostly help newspapers increase circulation and cable television increase their ratings, lurks a deeper and more serious threat: the accelerating pace of the nuclear arms race between Moscow and Washington.

Even in the rather calm and cloudless 1990s, the Kremlin always kept its finger on the nuclear button. This was partly due to the weakness of its conventional forces, but on the other hand, it was a reaction to NATO's awakened interest in conducting operations outside its area of ​​​​responsibility. Successive waves of NATO expansion since 1999 have predictably led to a significant increase in strategic tensions, with missile defense programs further exacerbating an already volatile situation. Thus, when the Obama administration began talking about a “reset” of Russian-American relations, the Kremlin had already begun a large-scale modernization of its nuclear forces. But this dam was finally broken by the Ukrainian crisis that began in the spring of 2014. The Cold War is back with new strength, and the investigation into Russia's actions continues, having entered into new phase, and it has a stranglehold on Washington and has an extremely negative impact on Russian-American relations. Numerous anti-Russian hawks on Capitol Hill and in Washington are now shouting louder and shriller from the left than from the right flank. And the result of this belligerent nonsense can be considered the emergence in Russia of a truly terrifying naval nuclear weapon called “Status-6”.

This megaton-class nuclear weapon, as one Russian source calls it, is delivered to its target by an unmanned submarine and is capable of wiping out a large portion of the US population in one apocalyptic strike on America's east coast. This source explains: “The main task of the Status-6 unmanned underwater vehicle is to destroy important coastal elements of the enemy’s economy and cause guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating vast zones of radioactive contamination that are unsuitable for carrying out military, economic and other activities in these zones.” for a long time.” In addition, this source explains that this device is capable of destroying naval bases, carrier strike groups, and ground-based air bases. brief analysis what Russian commentators say about Status-6.

Context

What is the Russian “Status-6” capable of?

The National Interest 01/23/2018

A new nuclear race between Russia and the United States?

The National Interest 01/18/2018

How America Could Accidentally Push Russia into Nuclear War

The National Interest 02/08/2018
But first of all, it must be said that National Interest has already published several articles that provide a good analysis of this new weapon. In particular, Dave Majumdar has prepared excellent research material on this topic. He quotes an undersea warfare expert from Analytical Center strategic and budgetary assessments by Bryan Clark, who explains that this device is far from perfect a weapon, the creation of which may face very real technical difficulties, since a 100-megaton munition can be extremely heavy, and operating such a weapon it will be difficult. Expert on nuclear weapons Monterey's Jeffrey Lewis says, “I think we can build a defensive system to protect against it. It will be easier than intercepting a missile, for sure.” I must say the obvious from the very beginning: the main advantage Russian apparatus is that it bypasses the entire missile defense system. Naturally, this is a formidable symptom, indicating the approach and constant acceleration of the Cold War.

It is worth noting a few more details provided by a source associated with the military-industrial complex. "Status-6" is driven by a liquid metal reactor and has a cruising speed of 55 kilometers per hour. But it is possible that it can develop a sprint speed of up to 100-185 kilometers per hour, which will allow it to evade all known torpedoes that are in service with probable enemy. This device has a working diving depth of 1,000 meters, its length is 26 meters and its width is 1.6 meters. The words of this source are confirmed by the assessment of American intelligence, which reports a successful test launch of a nuclear torpedo on November 27, 2016 from the Sarov submarine. Obviously, the development of this project is being carried out by the Rubin design bureau, specializing in marine technology. "Status-6" is called "a deterrent weapon with a 100% operational guarantee."

Reflecting on Brian Clark's comments in the above article, another Russian source said in January 2018: "Unfortunately for those who dream of destroying America with a giant tsunami, Project Status 6 is not as scary as it is made out to be." Another The Russian analyst is less frivolous in his statements: he notes that Status-6 is not only an “asymmetric response” to the deployment of missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe, but also a reaction to “the deployment of NATO battalions in Poland and the Baltic states, as well as to other aggressive actions by Washington against Russia.” Discussion participants note that for the first time this project was developed at the beginning of the Cold War, but due to technical difficulties it was impossible to fully implement it. But “half a century later, the problem with the reactor was solved,” and now this project is completely feasible.

In December 2017, an article was published entitled “The United States is preparing a response to the Russian nuclear torpedo.” It says that the fairly new Orca Extra Large Underwater Unmanned Vehicle (XLUUV) is a system capable of “bringing about a localized nuclear apocalypse.” The author of the article acknowledges that the stated purpose of this American program is to conduct reconnaissance, search and destroy mines, and deliver cargo. However, he notes that Russian experts doubt the veracity of such statements. Apparently, they believe that the development of the Orca was intensified after the Americans learned about Russia's program to create the Status-6 underwater vehicle. Thus, American system“may well affect the strategic balance of power between Russia and NATO.”

This view may lead Russian strategists to think that there is no point in accelerating the arms race again. At least one of the above-mentioned Russian analytical articles speaks of this sad reality: “There is no point in such weapons. Therefore, we will continue to scare the Americans with Soviet skeletons, and they will pretend that they are scared. The main thing is... funding has been allocated.”

Naturally, there are many interested individuals and groups in both countries that could benefit from a new Cold War. The military-industrial complex, which was first brought to the attention of President Eisenhower in his farewell speech in January 1961, must have noticed that countering Russia (and China) yielded much greater (and stable) profits than fighting terrorism. An increasingly aggressive left, humiliated and irritated by its defeat in the struggle for White House, who has been occupied by a political newcomer, may well stand under the American banner and claim that they are more patriotic because they speak openly about the “full spectrum” of the Russian threat. The right is unlikely to resist this call to return to the “good old days” when the country was ruled by Ronald Reagan and accepted that its main enemy was the Kremlin. But as a result of such limited and frivolous machinations, America and Russia will be much less prosperous and much more dangerous, especially if they encourage the crazy plans of military strategists and weapons developers in Moscow and Washington.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.