Putin has tested his nuclear ‘doomsday’ torpedo – here’s how worried we should be  ...Middle East

Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia had successfully tested a nuclear-powered super torpedo, dubbed the “doomsday machine”, which it claims could create radioactive tsunamis capable of destroying coastal cities.

The Poseidon, named after the Greek god of the sea, is an nuclear-tipped, strategic-range weapon, somewhere between a torpedo and a drone. It is powered by a small nuclear reactor, which gives it unlimited range.

“There is nothing like this,” Putin said, while visiting wounded soldiers at a hospital in Moscow.

“For the first time, we managed not only to launch it with a launch engine from a carrier submarine, but also to launch the nuclear power unit on which this device passed a certain amount of time,” he said.

The announcement came just days after the Russian president announced a successful test of the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile, and a week after Russia held nuclear launch drills.

However, with little verified information and a proliferation of wild claims about its capabilities – many being pushed by the Kremlin – experts warn that any talk about Poseidon must be treated with caution.

Putin’s ‘doomsday machine’

Jeffrey Lewis, an American expert in nuclear non-proliferation, has dubbed the torpedo Putin’s “doomsday machine”, a reference to the Soviets’ apocalyptic weapon in the classic Cold War black comedy Dr Strangelove.

Poseidon was one of Russia’s six “super weapons” officially announced by Putin in 2018, including the Burevestnik missile and hypersonic weapons.

The 20-metre-long torpedo, also known as the 2M39 Status-6, or Kanyon by Nato, was originally discussed as part of Russia’s second strike nuclear capability, aimed at circumventing US ballistic missile defences.

Russia has claimed it can achieve a maximum depth of 1,000m (3,300ft) and has a 10,000km (6,200 miles) range.

Major new info on #Russia submarine Belgorod. Updated cutaway. Note the Poseidon Intercontinental Nuclear Powered Nuclear Armed Autonomous Torpedo tubes in the bow. #OSINT more info at t.co/Niienq0adX pic.twitter.com/9IZ8A1bg9J

‘The radiation effects would be catastrophic’

The weapon is “doubly unique” because no other country is known to field a nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed torpedo, said Nick Brown, a director at the British defence intelligence company Janes. He added that the yield of the warhead might be greater than that of an individual missile.

According to Russian media, Poseidon is designed to explode underwater near coastlines, triggering a powerful radioactive ocean swell that would destroy coastal cities and naval bases.

“The heaving blast would certainly create a large swell [in the ocean] and the radiation effects would be catastrophic,” Brown told The i Paper.

However, experts caution that claims of city-destroying tsunamis were overblown.

Early claims for the Poseidon suggested its nuclear warhead would be as large as 100 megatons and possibly encased in cobalt – causing widespread and highly radioactive contamination. A two-megaton warhead now appears more likely.

“Claims of nuclear tsunamis crashing into London or New York are largely nonsense,” said James Rogers, co-founder of the Council on Geostrategy.

Rogers said that if a large device of several megatons was detonated hundreds of metres under the sea, it could, theoretically, create a large swell that could have a devastating localised impact.

But because coastal waters are shallow, anyone living nearby should be more worried about the nuclear fireball emerging from the water, he said. “Any water displacement would be the least of a nearby city’s worries. The effect of the fireball and blast would be significantly greater.”

Poseidon would be ‘near-impossible to stop’

Russia has claimed that the torpedo moves at over 100 knots (115mph). Janes assessed that it was more likely to be in the 50-70 knots (58mph) bracket.

Even so, Brown pointed out that this still means “Western torpedoes – the fastest of which can reach speeds in excess of 55 knots – would struggle to catch it in a stern chase”.

For comparison, US Virginia Class nuclear-powered submarines travel at around 25 knots, and conventional torpedoes around 50 knots.

Nick Childs, a senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said claims it can operate at extreme depths and great speed “would make it a challenge for Western anti-submarine defences”.

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However, moving at such speeds would make the Poseidon noisy and a target for traditional anti-submarine warfare systems, meaning it was more likely to travel slower to cover long distances.

Childs said it could also be used for other roles, including carrying sensors for underwater surveillance, where its nuclear propulsion would be useful for long endurance and to power those systems.

“A key focus for Western navies would be on tracking the submarines that will carry the Poseidon to be in a position to take them out if necessary before they have a chance to launch the weapons,” he said.

Reports suggest that the Belgorod, a special-purpose submarine, is undergoing modifications to carry six Poseidons, until the completion of the Khabarovsk, a new class of nuclear-powered submarines.

Poseidon’s purpose is still unclear

Much about Poseidon is unknown. A key question is how autonomously the weapon can act – if it can travel to a pre-programmed target with no further communication with command, or if it acts more like an uncrewed underwater vehicle, moving around the ocean by itself while in contact with headquarters.

Precisely what its operational role is also remains unclear. “On the one hand, it evades traditional missile defences by operating underwater. On the other hand, even at the speeds that are claimed for it, it would take a very long time compared to a ballistic missile to reach a target at the kind of ranges it is said to be able to reach,” said Childs.

Rogers said that he was not sure what purpose Poseidon served. “Russia already has the capacity to level any country in the world with intercontinental ballistic missiles,” he said. “It may be that the Russians are afraid that American and Chinese breakthroughs in terms of anti-ballistic missile systems may render the existing Russian arsenal obsolete.”

The description of the test also suggests that Poseidon is not fully developed or operational yet, and Putin’s announcement this week could be just more nuclear sabre-rattling from the Kremlin.

According to Rogers, the test was “mostly propaganda”.

“The weapon may exist, but it has little military utility,” he added. “And if the Russians ever used it, our existing nuclear forces would still be able to strike back with massive destructive force in response. And the Russians know that.”

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