Russia to Test its Most Powerful Intercontinental Ballistic Missile 'Sarmat' in 2021

Russia is making preparations to test its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the most powerful one yet, this year.

“Right now the main work to be done in the near future is preparing for flight tests of Sarmat heavy ICBM,” Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said during his speech at Korolyevskiy in Moscow.

Moscow claims the missile can “tear any current anti-aircraft missile defense systems to shreds.”

In December 2020, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko disclosed that Sarmat was about to enter flight trials.

The RS-28 Sarmat (SS-X-30 Satan II) is an advanced silo-based system with a heavy liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile. It has been in the process of its development since the 2000s to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda (SS-18 Satan) ICBM. It weighs about 200 tonnes and has a payload of around 10 tonnes. Russia claims that the missile has a range of 10,000-18,000 km.

According to Russian media, Sarmat can reportedly load up to 10 large warheads, 16 smaller ones, a combination of warheads and countermeasures, or hypersonic boost-glide vehicles.