The head of Russia’s national space agency Roscosmos announced on Friday that the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), often known as “Satan II” in Western media and formerly referred to by President Vladimir Putin as unbeatable, has been deployed for combat duty.
“The Sarmat strategic missile system has entered active duty,” Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov said.
What is The RS-28 Sarmat, aka the Satan II missile?
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.”
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.
Sarmat, which can carry multiple warheads and weighs more than 200 tons, is made to evade anti-missile defense systems with a brief initial boost phase, providing the adversary monitoring systems with a constrained window to track it down.
When asked in May about Sweden and Finland’s desire to join NATO in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by state broadcaster TV Russia 1, deputy head of the Russian defense committee Aleksey Zhuravlyov framed it as a threat. Earlier this year, Finland joined the alliance, although Sweden is still awaiting ratification. Zhuravlyov said, Moscow may unleash Satan II to retaliate against these countries as well as the UK and US, which the Putin government views as the main driving factors behind Nato.
Western media frequently refers to the Sarmat missile as “Satan II,” even though NATO refers to it as the “SS-X-29” or “SS-X-30.” The NATO reporting name “SS-18 Satan,” which was used for the R-36M missile system that the Sarmat was intended to replace, is where this name originates. The name “Satan II” draws on the horrifying connotations of evil and misery to grab the public’s and media’s attention.