MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has produced the first nuclear warheads for the Poseidon super torpedoes to be deployed on the Belgorod nuclear submarine, TASS reported on Monday, citing an unidentified defence source.
“The first Poseidon ammunition loads have been manufactured, and the Belgorod submarine will receive them in the near future,” TASS quoted the source as saying.
President Vladimir Putin first announced what would become known as Poseidon in 2018, saying it was a fundamentally new type of strategic nuclear weapon with its own nuclear power source.
In the 2018 speech, Putin said the range of the torpedo would be unlimited and that it could operate at extreme depths at a speed many times that of any submarine or other torpedoes.
“They are very low noise, have high maneuverability and are practically indestructible for the enemy. There is no weapon that can counter them in the world today,” Putin said.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge)
