New satellite imagery shows that Russia recently conducted a potentially unsuccessful intercontinental ballistic missile test using the Sarmat ICBM, also known as Satan II.
Satellite images analyzed by CBS News show a large crater and traces of an explosion that appears to have occurred on a launch pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on September 21. The crater is about 200 feet wide, and the site contains black rubble and other debris suggestive of a large fire or explosion.
Satellite images showed several trucks parked at the site, and fires continued to burn in trees near the launch pad on Saturday, according to George Baros, Russia team leader at the Institute for the Study of War.
Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project, an arms control and nuclear weapons analysis blog, said the launch likely took place on September 19. Air Mission Notice A NOTAM notice to pilots in the area was also cancelled that day. Podvig said the images showed the missile may have “exploded inside the silo,” suggesting the explosion may have occurred while the missile was being defueled.
The Plesetsk Cosmodrome is located approximately 500 miles north of Moscow and 250 miles east of the Russian-Finland border.
“We are aware of reports of a Russian ICBM launch earlier this month. Please contact the Russian Ministry of Defense for further information regarding this incident,” a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement to CBS News.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the explosion at a press conference on Monday, September 23, saying “we have no information on this matter.”
This is Russia’s latest Sarmat ICBM test since the missile was deployed in 2021. Last release in February 2023Two days before President Biden visits Kyiv, Ukraine, U.S. officials said The CBS News test failed.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Missile Defense Project, the Sarmat is classified as a “large” ICBM, designed to reach targets approximately 11,000 miles away and capable of carrying a warhead of up to 10 tonnes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin Announced The country will cease participating in a nuclear arms treaty called the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in February 2023, and Russia will resume nuclear weapons testing if the United States resumes nuclear weapons testing, he added.
The United States has conducted two test launches of its Minuteman III ICBM in 2023, one in June and one in September.
Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CBS News that Sarmat’s latest test was an “act of nuclear bluffing.”
“The United States is trying to play some catch-up in terms of modernizing our nuclear forces, which are fairly old in relative terms,” ​​Karako said. “Russia is following suit with a huge effort, and Sarmat is part of that, but it’s a multi-headed monster.”
Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said in December 2023 that the country intends to conduct seven ICBM tests in 2024.
According to the independent Russian news agency Sirena, Russia has conducted six unsuccessful tests of nuclear weapons since June, including the Poseidon torpedo and the Bulava submarine-launched missile.