Russia Prioritizes Deployment Of ICBM Satan II, Tu-160M Strategic Bomber And This Year's S-500 Missile System

Russia's Tupolev TU-160M bomber. (Wikimedia Commons/Dmitry Terekhov)

JAKARTA - Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said the Russian Armed Forces prioritized the deployment of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile system (ICBM), the Tupolev Tu-160M strategic bomber and the S-500 surface-to-air missile system.

"The priority task for 2024 regarding the technical provision of the Russian Armed Forces military is to complete the work of placing the advanced Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile system (ICBM) into combat task, to assign the strategic missile carrier Tu-160M bomber to the Air Force, as well as the S-500 surface-to-air missile system and to provide the Knyaz Pozharsky strategic nuclear-powered submarine to the Russian Navy," Krivoruchko said, quoted from TASS February 1.

Earlier, Head of Roscosmos Yury Borisov said in September 2023, Sarmat's advanced intercontinental ballistic missile system (ICBM) began combat duty in Russia.

"Samart's strategic system has taken a combat alert position," Borisov announced in September.

RS-28 Sarmat (Satan II) is a advanced Russian silo-based missile system armed with a liquid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear payloads.

The missile has been developed at the Makeyev State Rocket Center (Miass City, Chelyabinsk Region) to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda ICBM operating in Russia's Strategic Missile Forces since 1988.

Based on expert estimates, Sarmat Hospital-28 is capable of sending a 10-ton MIRV warhead to any location around the world, both in the North and South Poles.

Meanwhile, the Tu-160M strategic bomber has been equipped with advanced weaponry and an electronic warfare system, as well as onboard radio-electronic equipment based on the most advanced instrument-making technology. The first Tu-160M upgrade prototype was engineered based on the large-scale long-range aircraft operational modernization program currently being implemented by the Tupolev Aircraft Company.

Russia has launched a program to restart production of the upgraded Tu-160 strategic bomber following President Vladimir Putin's decision.

Under the state contract signed to implement the program, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Tupolev Aircraft Company completely digitized the design documentation of the Tu-160M bomber aircraft in the shortest possible time, restored the titanium vacuum welding technology, and restarted the production of the bomber's aircraft. The assembly of the fuselage and formed a new chain of cooperation consisting of metallurgical companies, aircraft, machines and the manufacture of advanced instruments, most of which were integrated into Rostec.

It is known, Tu-160 is the largest and strongest supersonic military aircraft in the world with variable sweeping wings to date.

Tu-160 (NATO reporting name: Blackjack) is a Soviet supersonic variable-wing strategic missile-carrying bomber and then Russia. Along with the Tu-95MS bomber, these planes are the mainstay of long-range Russian Air Force flights. Tu-160M is designed to strike enemy targets in remote areas with nuclear and conventional weapons.