Russia's Sarmat missile fails spectacularly, leaving crater and fire

Russian propaganda war channels and American OSINT projects report that an attempt to launch an intercontinental nuclear RS-28 Sarmat missile has failed. Photos showing an enormous crater have been posted online. NASA satellites have also detected a fire at the site. Just a few days ago, the Kremlin was threatening Europe with this missile.

Officially, the Kremlin does not report the failure. This information is being mainly reported by military channels, whose sources are close to the Russian Ministry of Defense and special services, as well as American OSINT (open-source intelligence) projects.

"Tests of the nuclear intercontinental missile Sarmat at the Plesetsk test site in the Arkhangelsk region ended in complete failure – the missile exploded directly in the silo," reads one of the OSINT project's entries.

The Russian "military informer" also writes about the matter. "The missile exploded in the silo, leaving an enormous crater and causing significant damage to the test site. It is worth noting that the Sarmat was not equipped with a nuclear warhead," it reads.

A few days ago, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin threatened the West that if it gives Kyiv permission to attack Russian targets with long-range weapons, Moscow will launch the Sarmat missile.

- Russia intends to respond sharply using stronger weapons - claimed Volodin. - No one should have illusions about this. Before making such a decision, one should recall the lessons of World War II. For comparison, the Sarmat missile needs 3 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Strasbourg – Volodin warned.

Luckily, the Sarmat didn't even leave the silo.

This is supposed to be the fourth failed attempt to test the "combat" heavy intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat. The first and last successful test took place on April 20, 2022.

In the fall of last year, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin stated that the Sarmat missile system was being developed to replace the R-36M "Voevoda" intercontinental missiles, which have been in service since the 1980s.

As The Moscow Times recalls, work on the Sarmat missile began in 2013, and Putin promised that it would be deployed to the military in 2020. The designers and factories had to hurry: the missile was supposed to replace the Voevoda, which Soviet generals regarded as one of the best elements of the nuclear triad. Developed by the Ukrainian design bureau Yuzhnoye, this missile has 10 warheads and 40 decoys, allegedly making it "impervious to the missile defense shield."

The warranty period for the "Voevoda" expired in the mid-2000s and was subsequently extended to 2016. - It is believed that there are up to 40 "Voevodas" in Russia, but practically none - military expert Pavel Luzin told the newspaper.