The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile blasts off during a test launch.
The RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) of Russia, commonly known as “Satan II” in Western media and once described as invincible by President Vladimir Putin, has been deployed for combat duty, the head of the state space agency Roscosmos said Friday.
“The Sarmat strategic missile system has entered active duty,” Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov said.
According to Sputnik News, “The RS-28 Sarmat is Russia’s next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that is set to become the backbone of the country’s silo-based strategic deterrent. With its impressive range and destructive power, the Sarmat is considered one of the deadliest nuclear missiles in the world.”
As per the Moscow Times, the RS-28 Sarmat dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts, is among Russia’s next-generation missiles unveiled by Putin in 2018, which also include the Kinzhal and Avangard hypersonic missiles.
Weighing in at more than 200 tonnes and able to transport multiple warheads, Sarmat is designed to elude anti-missile defence systems with a short initial boost phase, giving enemy surveillance systems a narrow window to track it down.
According to The Independent earlier this year, Russian defence committee deputy chairman Aleksey Zhuravlyov used it as a threat when he was interviewed by state broadcaster TV Russia 1 in May regarding Sweden and Finland’s aspirations towards joining NATO in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined the alliance earlier this year, while Sweden is still waiting to be ratified. Mr Zhuravlyov claimed that Moscow could unleash Satan II to strike back at those nations and at the UK and US, which the Putin regime regards as the key organising forces behind Nato.
Who coined the name ‘Satan II’?
The Sputnik News reported that while NATO designates the Sarmat missile as the ‘SS-X-29’ or ‘SS-X-30’, Western media has often referred to it as ‘Satan II’. This name is derived from the NATO reporting name ‘SS-18 Satan’, which was used for the R-36M missile system that the Sarmat is set to replace. The ‘Satan II’ moniker plays on the terrifying associations of evil and suffering, capturing the attention of the media and the public.