Member-only story
How Dangerous is Russia’s Nuclear Torpedo — Poseidon?
In March of 2018, Putin announced his newest doomsday weapon — the Poseidon nuclear-tipped torpedo.
But after watching Russia’s military fumble around Ukraine for the past three months, perhaps this too is a paper tiger; that is, an overhyped “political” weapon meant to cause fear more than damage — just like Russia’s conventional military.
Unfortunately, Poseidon is just the type of insane military engineering that Russia has, historically, doubled down on.
Say what you want about the raging military dumpster fire in Ukraine, one thing Russia has always been good at is building and testing nukes.
First, what exactly is Poseidon?
Previously known by the Russian codename “Status-6”, Poseidon is an autonomous, nuclear-powered, and nuclear-armed drone that can travel underwater extremely deep and extremely fast.
The size of a school bus, the Poseidon measures nearly 65 feet long and almost 6 feet wide.
It can travel up to 3300 feet deep, can move at the astonishing speed of 100 knots (claimed by Russia) and has an effective range of 5,400 nautical miles.
The weapon is made of high-strength titanium alloys to withstand deep ocean pressures.
In 2015, Poseidon was “accidently” leaked on Russian state TV, although the CIA later concluded that the leak was intentional.
Perhaps most shocking, Russia claims that the torpedo could be armed with a 100-megaton warhead!
This would represent the largest warhead ever deployed and is twice the size of the Tsar Bomba: the previous record-holder at 50 megatons.
Although the Pentagon estimates Poseidon’s payload to be closer to 2 megatons.
Is Poseidon real or misinformation?
Woefully, Western intelligence has indicated that the Poseidon is very real, and very dangerous.
Over the past three decades, the U.S. began to perfect the science of missile defense — systems like the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
