Russian state-controlled television channels have aired images of what were secret plans for a nuclear torpedo system that the Kremlin is developing.
Advertisement
During a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his senior military advisors and officials in the seaside village of Sochi on Tuesday, a cameraman briefly filmed over the shoulder of a military officer, catching a description of a new weapons system known simply as “Status-6”.
The document, first reported by the military blog Russian Forces, reveals that the drone submarine is in development.
“It’s true that a few secret information was caught by the camera and therefore it was subsequently removed”.
“I don’t yet know about any measures, but in future we will, naturally, take preventative measures so that this doesn’t happen again”, Peskov said when asked whether action would be taken in response to the unauthorized disclosure. However, according to the leaked paper, the weapons system could be developed by the Rubin design bureau for marine engineering, and may potentially be delivered using nuclear-powered “Project 09852” and “Project 09851” submarines.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta called the torpedo a “robotic mini submarine”, going at 100 nautical miles (185km/h; 115mph), which would “prevent all acoustic tracking devices as well as other snares”.
He said that Moscow will respond by developing “strike systems capable of penetrating any missile defenses”.
At the initial talks in Vienna on October 30, the US, Russia, Iran and more than a dozen other nations agreed to launch a new peace effort involving Syria’s government and opposition groups.
Russia’s been pretty cagey lately, what with the whole Ukraine thing, so any development like this is sure to ratchet up the tension even further.
Mr Putin argued, however, that his country has been told that Iran is the main nuclear threat, and so questioned why work on missile defences is continuing following the signing of the nuclear treaty.
The New START agreement was ratified by both the USA and Russian Federation in 2011, and under it the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers will (supposedly) be reduced by half.
That would be a type of thermonuclear warhead with a layer of cobalt-59, which on detonation would be transmuted into highly radioactive cobalt-60 with a half-life longer than five years.
A cobalt bomb has never been tested because of the devastating radiation it would unleash.
Advertisement
“But it could be considered a deterrent… guaranteeing a return strike with all the power of Russia’s nuclear forces even if all command points and the country’s leadership have been destroyed”.
