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Several pre-series Sarmat missiles to enter duty in near future

Sarmat is capable to carry a wide range or nuclear warheads, including hypersonic ones

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Several pre-series samples of the newest missile Sarmat, which Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned in his message to the Federal Assembly on Thursday, will enter duty in the near future, the chairman of the Federation Council’s defense and security committee, Viktor Bondarev, told the media.

"True, it will be too early to expect Sarmat to begin batch-production within a year or two. But several pre-series missiles will enter duty in the near future," he said.

In his opinion the greatest impression on journalists around the world was produced by the presentation of the inter-continental ballistic missile Sarmat.

"It owes effectiveness to many factors, such as high accuracy targeting of the warheads, the ability to penetrate any missile defenses, an unlimited range of hitting targets, a large number and high yield of warheads and the capability to carry a wide range or nuclear warheads, including hypersonic ones," Bondarev said.

"Besides, the commission of Sarmat will be cost-effective [a very rare quality for a new product], because the inter-continental missile can be deployed in the existing silos, with minimum amendments done to the infrastructures," he added.

New weapons 

The first samples of a new generation cruise missile equipped with a nuclear power plant and of a missile carrying a glide vehicle will become available for the Russian armed forces within ten years to come, Bondarev stressed.

"Very new and therefore unpredictable from the standpoint of serial production are the nuclear power plant-equipped cruise missile and a future missile carrying a glide vehicle. We carried out tests in 2017. Within the next decade some samples will enter combat duty," he said.

As President Vladimir Putin announced earlier, Russia had created a small-size super-powerful nuclear power plant that can be placed inside the hull of a cruise missile, lending it such properties as an unlimited flight range and ability to penetrate any anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense.