Personnel of the promising development of the Russian defense industry - the ocean multi-purpose system "Status-6" - blew up the Internet. The existence of the Status-6 system became known at a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the security forces, dedicated to defense.

About the fact that Russia has developed Ocean multi-purpose system "Status-6", it became known from the reports of two TV channels - Channel One and NTV - from a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin on defense topics on November 9, 2015.

Over the past week, Vladimir Putin has been holding a series of meetings in Sochi with representatives of the defense department and chief designers of enterprises in the Russian military-industrial complex. Their goal is to discuss the state of the industry, the implementation of the state defense order, as well as compare plans with real life, with the exercises that have been held recently, and evaluate work to strengthen the country's security.

One of these meetings made the Status-6 system public.

In their stories, Russian TV channels showed the data of a secret system, which is an underwater projectile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead - highly maneuverable and deep-water, which is able to destroy the coast of a potential enemy. Of course, everyone figured out perfectly - whose coast, in which case, will be the main target for "Status-6".

We note right away: if someone is looking for a video of rocket tests or other shots where this weapon is captured, let him not waste time. There are no such frames. Some performance characteristics of "Status-6" were "lit up".

The "leakage" (intentional or involuntary) was due to Colonel General A.V. Kartapolova- Head of the Main Operational Directorate General Staff Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was from behind his back that the journalists took the drawings of "Status-6", which make it possible to judge the purpose of this combat system, designed for a guaranteed retaliatory strike against the enemy.

In the footage below from the meeting between Putin and the security forces, you can see this "Status-6" that excited everyone.

As can be seen from the published footage, the developer of the system is JSC Central Design Bureau MT Rubin. This is one of the leading Soviet and Russian enterprises in the design of submarines, both diesel-electric and nuclear, for example, the Borey SSBN.

The purpose of the system is "to defeat important objects of the enemy's economy in the coastal area and inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country's territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time."

Two nuclear submarines are depicted as intended carriers: a special-purpose nuclear submarine under construction "Belgorod"- an unfinished cruiser of the Antey class, relaid on December 20, 2012 according to a special project 09852. And the second - a special-purpose submarine laid down on July 27, 2014 at Sevmash "Khabarovsk" project 09851.

After demonstrating footage with the Status-6 system, many immediately remembered that quite recently the American publication The Washington Free Beacon reported that Russia was creating an "underwater drone" code-named "Canyon", capable of carrying nuclear weapons with a yield of tens of megatons and threaten US ports and coastal cities.

Then, in September, naval analyst Norman Polmar suggested that the Kanyon system was based on the Soviet T-15 straight-line nuclear torpedo with a capacity of 100 megatons (the idea of ​​Academician Sakharov), which was designed in the 50s just for striking onshore facilities in the United States.

Russia has something to respond to US missile defense without "Status-6"

In accordance with the action plan Missile troops strategic purpose RF, the share of modern weapons will be increased to 100% by 2020.

The President of Russia emphasized that the creation modern army, equipped with the latest weapons and military equipment, remains one of the priorities of military development.

This does not mean that Russia intends to be drawn into an arms race. "We just have to make up for lost time at the turn of the 1990s-2000s, when the armed forces, and the defense industry enterprises themselves, were chronically underfunded," Putin said.

In particular, the president noted that Russia would develop strike systems capable of overcoming any complexes missile defense(PRO). He recalled that the United States and its allies continue to build a global missile defense system.

"Moreover, neither our concerns nor proposals for cooperation, unfortunately, are taken into account," he stated.

Putin stressed that the true goal of US missile defense is to neutralize nuclear capability RF.

The head of the Russian state stated that over the past three years, defense industry enterprises have created and successfully tested a number of promising weapons systems that are capable of combat missions in a layered missile defense system.

How Russia will respond to US missile defense

Among the systems being developed by the Russian defense industry as a response to the deployment of the US missile defense system in Europe, one can name operational-tactical missile system (OTRK) "Iskander"(SS-26 Stone, according to NATO classification).

It is designed to destroy both small and area targets in the rear of the troops of a potential enemy. The complex consists of several types of vehicles, including a self-propelled launcher on the MZKT chassis, a transport-loading vehicle, a command post vehicle (KShM) and others.

The range of ammunition used includes the 9M723 single-stage solid-fuel rocket with a firing range of up to 500 km. The missile can be equipped with both conventional and cluster warheads.

In 2015, the Russian army will receive two brigade sets of Iskander OTRK. The same number of OTRK will go to the troops in 2016. In total, by the end of 2015, there should already be seven such units in the RF Armed Forces.

In 2016, throwing and flight design tests of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) "Sarmat", designed to replace the ICBM R-36M2 "Voevoda", will begin.

The characteristics laid down in the development of a promising missile exceed the previous generation, in particular, the payload of Sarmat ICBMs can reach 10 tons (for Voevoda missiles, this figure is about 8.75 tons). The missile will be able to hit targets, flying along the route through both the North and South Poles.

Russia is developing a combat railway missile system(BZHRK) "Barguzin".

The stage of development of design documentation for it will be completed in mid-2016. As expected, one composition of the BZHRK will be able to carry six RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles and will be equated to a regiment, and there will be five regiments in the Barguzin divisional set. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation emphasized that the creation of the BZHRK does not contradict Russia's obligations under the START-3 treaty.

In total, in accordance with the plan of activity of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), the share of modern samples missile weapons troops will be brought to 100% by 2020.

The Russian Defense Ministry received eight intercontinental ballistic missiles in the third quarter of 2015. Also accepted are 12 mobile launchers, 22 combat duty support vehicles, 3 engineering support and camouflage vehicles. Share modern technology in the Strategic Missile Forces currently reaches 48%.

According to the draft federal budget for 2016, spending under the "National Defense" section on the nuclear weapons complex in 2016 will be increased by almost 4 billion rubles. In 2015, the amount of financing under this item is more than 44.5 billion rubles, while in 2016 it is planned to spend more than 48.3 billion rubles.

The Kremlin quite easily admitted that the hitherto classified weapons systems were indeed “exposed” on the air of federal channels. This lightness suggests that we are talking about psychological warfare, the purpose of which is to convince the United States to abandon the global missile defense project. If so, the provocation was a success - the media of the Anglo-Saxon world is in a panic.

The story of an allegedly new secret type of nuclear weapon - an underwater autonomous (that is, not man-controlled) torpedo of the Status-6 project plowed the Western world and became almost the main news for several days. Most of the largest and most authoritative publications in English-speaking countries are filled with publications on this topic and numerous expert comments. No wonder: we are talking about the unexpected defenselessness of even the United States in front of a fundamentally new type of Russian weapons, as well as its "cannibalistic" nature.

“A 24-meter torpedo weighing 40 tons was supposed to be blown up on a traverse major cities USA to cause a giant tsunami that would wipe out half the country"

Another thing is that nothing fundamentally new has happened and "cannibalism" has nothing to do with it.

Let's start with the fact that only one presentation sheet got into the frame, a significant part of which was blurred, which indicates the natural censorship in such a situation. And all the "leaked information" was already known, including in the United States, where the creation of a new type of Russian nuclear torpedoes had been debated for several years. This, in principle, is not about a super-new project, but about a creatively reworked old one.

For example, the supposed appearance project 09851 "Wicket-SMP", now known as the submarine (station) "Khabarovsk", was publicized last summer. More precisely, immediately after the presentation and banquet that followed the laying of the project on June 27, 2014 at Sevmash, the participants of the event were given memorable gifts, including ballpoint pens, on which the hull of the future submarine was engraved. But its purpose was indeed overgrown with rumors.

The most innocuous of them was the rumor that the Khabarovsk, the long-awaited long-range sonar patrol submarine, is a fundamentally new and extremely necessary type for the Russian fleet (like the old Bottlenose Dolphin). At the same time, the assumption was born that Khabarovsk was intended for the transportation and control of deep-sea vehicles, including top secret ones.

In relation to this project, American experts have been putting forward semi-fantastic versions for the past year. I would especially like to recall the recent story of how the commander of the US submarine fleet on pacific ocean Admiral Frédéric Perret suggested that Russian submarines could damage fiber-optic cables laid on the ocean floor. Then they laughed at the admiral in unison, not thinking that Perret had in mind the theoretical possibility of loading Khabarovsk and Belgorod with deep-sea submersibles that were really capable of carrying out such sabotage. Why - it is not clear, but Admiral Perret simply voiced one of the rumors, which, in turn, was offered to him by naval intelligence - the third largest intelligence structure in the United States.

Information about carriers, including Khabarovsk, sometimes appeared in the open press. It is enough to carefully read the open annual reports of Sevmash for 2014, in which contract No. 120-14 of 06/03/2014 is registered. The laying of the submarine took place on July 27, 2014 in workshop No. 50.

The Status-6 project itself is strongly associated with the ancient idea of ​​the “Tsar-torpedo” named after Academician Sakharov, the T-15. This monstrous device was a 24-meter torpedo weighing 40 tons with a thermonuclear charge of 100 megatons, which was supposed to explode on the traverse of major US cities (one at New York, Charleston, New Orleans or Pensacola and two at Los Angeles and San Francisco). The goal is to cause a giant tsunami that would wipe out half of the country, most of whose population traditionally lives near two oceans. In addition to a purely destructive function, the use of the T-15 would lead to the destruction of the main naval bases the United States and most of the fleet, including the aircraft carrier, which had not gone to sea by that time.

At that time, Soviet submarines did not yet carry ballistic missiles, and torpedoes seemed to be a promising carrier of atomic weapons. But the giant "Tsar-torpedo" of the Soviet Navy was beyond its strength.

Then Sakharov proposed a new variant of a preventive attack on the United States: using what he and Leo Szilard, an American of Hungarian origin, first called the "cobalt bomb", and in modern world accepted to be called. This is not an atomic bomb in its purest form, but rather a radiological weapon, which involves a very strong, but short-term contamination of a vast area. Sakharov intended to build a ship (not a torpedo already, but a ship), the outer hull of which would consist of cobalt-59. Inside the ship was supposed to be a conventional atomic charge, after detonating which neutrons would bombard the cobalt hull, which would turn into extremely radioactive cobalt-60. Such a ship could be disguised as an ordinary "merchant" and put, say, on the outer roadstead of New York. Coastal cities would simply become depopulated, while the half-life of cobalt-60 is short - about five and a half years, after which it is quite possible to live in the affected area.

“The United States considers the “weapon of retaliation” system to be “inhuman”, but this is pure hypocrisy”

Andrei Sakharov, who in his second life became a great humanist, in his memoirs referred to the moral and ethical factors that stopped the development of his project. Allegedly, after a conversation with Admiral Fomin, who pointed out to him the "cannibalistic" nature of the plan, he was "horrified" and refused to work on it. This is at least a distortion. Firstly, Sakharov incorrectly indicates in his memoirs even the name and position of Admiral Pyotr Fomin, and secondly, the designer could not stop the development of the project on his own initiative. I would have refused personally - the development would have been transferred to another designer or to another design bureau. In the USSR, competition was practiced between different teams of designers, research institutes, between the branches of the armed forces to which these research and design centers were assigned, and even between different groups within the military-industrial complex and the workers who supported them. central office parties and ministries. The reality is simple: the then fleet was simply not able to ensure the use of neither the "king-torpedo" nor the "cobalt ship".

It is believed that the development of the cobalt bomb was silently stopped around the world at the initiative of Leo Szilard, who explained that only 510 tons of cobalt are capable of destroying all life forms on Earth. Then the famous jokes about cockroaches that are able to survive a nuclear war began.

In parallel, Soviet scientists developed the so-called concept of nuclear winter, according to which, after a limited nuclear war irreversible climate change will come (a decrease in temperature due to a curtain of soot and dust that will no longer let the sun's rays through). The concept now seems controversial, it is successfully criticized, based, among other things, on the real experience of the war in Persian Gulf when, as a result of a massive explosion of oil wells, darkness covered the sky, and the temperature in the bay area dropped by an average of four degrees. A popular version is that "nuclear winter" was invented precisely in order to frighten Western governments and force them to refuse to deploy offensive nuclear weapons in Europe, in particular Pershings.

All in all, it's a long and complicated story. Suffice it to say that the consequences of a nuclear conflict were calculated according to mathematical model, which was not based on any natural science data. Even the “year without a summer” data (1816), when two major volcanic eruptions led to abnormally cold weather, could not be included in the input data. In addition, the effect of the "firestorm", which was described after the bombing of Japan and Germany (including conventional, and not just nuclear), does not take into account the current state of industry and the effect of the destruction of hazardous industries.

This is all to the fact that a number of American media have suggested that the demonstration of the Status-6 system is a repetition of the propaganda effect of the concept of nuclear winter, which should stop the American idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating an anti-missile system so effective that one can not expect a retaliatory atomic strike. Or at least not so afraid of him. They say that in response, Russia demonstrates fundamentally different forms of attack, combining elements of nuclear weapons and new technologies, which will allow the US and its allies to inflict irreparable damage. Particular emphasis is placed on the "aggressiveness" of this technology. This looks rather strange, because it is based on the arrogant assumption that while America develops a missile defense system, Russia will sit idly by.

Against this background, in the United States itself, the Obama administration is criticized for the concept of switching to "small forms" of nuclear weapons to the detriment of rearmament. strategic forces, which is occupied by Russia. In this series, they particularly emphasize the recent re-equipment of European military bases with new "bunker-piercing bombs" with a small nuclear charge. And in parallel, they carefully monitor publications in Russian specialized media, and of the most fantastic kind. For example, in the past year, several materials have been subjected to numerous interpretations about the possibility of a mass bombing of Yellowstone Park, which is a monstrous volcano. According to these publications (signed by people with academic titles and colonel's epaulettes), a massive nuclear strike through the park will cause a large-scale eruption, in comparison with which Sakharov's ideas about sending a tsunami 300 meters high to America will seem like baby talk. All this fits perfectly into the framework of the system of mutual intimidation by the most exotic methods.

Meanwhile, the Status-6 project has obvious advantages that have remained literally behind the scenes of the television picture and have nothing to do with the practical purposes of using these weapons.

First, it is assumed that the noise of the torpedo engines is fully translated into high frequencies. And this means that the American system of early underwater detection will not be able to detect torpedoes at a distance of several hundred meters (the sensors of this system are located on the bottom of the oceans at about this distance from each other, that is, "Status-6" can slip between them unnoticed) . This obviously leaves the United States defenseless, and not only its territory itself, but also the aircraft carrier groups that have gone to sea, previously considered invulnerable. And it doesn't matter anymore whether it will be a cobalt bomb or a "conventional" thermonuclear charge. There will be nothing left of the aircraft carrier group, and it will be, if not total, but limited nuclear war, for which even the United States is theoretically ready, humanism public opinion which are greatly exaggerated.

Secondly, the "unmanned" technology does not require human participation in the direction of the torpedo, which means that it can be used as a "weapon of retaliation", that is, to complete its mission even when the command centers and control systems are destroyed. The United States considers the system of "retaliation weapons" "inhuman", but this is pure hypocrisy: in a nuclear confrontation, no one can count on impunity for a first strike. The one who first dared to press the “red button” should not feel safe and must bear full responsibility.

) random, or maybe "accidental" frame from television reports? From the very beginning, I did not even pay any attention to it, but then the waves of this information spread so widely through the sea of ​​informational media that I myself began to wonder what it could really be.

So, What became known from the "illuminated booklet"?

A self-propelled underwater vehicle from the Status-6 ocean multi-purpose system, designed to "hit important objects of the enemy's economy," has become one of the most discussed topics in the world. The drone “accidentally” demonstrated on the air of federal channels has turned into a bone of contention for experts, some of whom consider it a thin Kremlin “duck”, while others see it as a new embodiment of Professor Sakharov’s ideas.

The "Status-6" system is designed to "defeat important objects of the enemy's economy in the coastal area and inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country's territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time" . That's what almost all the media quoted. What else do we know about her...

The carriers of the system are nuclear submarines of projects 09852 Belgorod and 09851 Khabarovsk, the first of which is being rebuilt into a special-purpose submarine from a cruise missile carrier, and the second is being built from scratch. Both ships are on the stocks of Severodvinsk "Sevmash".

The strike force of "Status" should be a self-propelled underwater vehicle with a range of 10,000 kilometers and a depth of 1,000 meters.

Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering was chosen as the lead contractor for the system.

Most military experts call the Status-6 project a legacy of developments Academician Andrey Sakharov. His project T-15, nicknamed "Sakharov's torpedo", was an underwater self-propelled vehicle that was supposed to carry a thermonuclear charge to the shores of the enemy.

In his memoirs, Sakharov wrote about the T-15: “One of the first people with whom I discussed this project was Rear Admiral Fomin... He was shocked by the "cannibalistic nature" of the project and remarked in a conversation with me that naval sailors were accustomed to fighting an armed enemy in open battle and that the very thought of such a massacre was disgusting to him.

Sakharov suggested using Project 627 nuclear submarines developed in the 1950s as a “delivery vehicle” for a powerful nuclear charge (100 megatons). According to his calculations, the explosion of such a bomb would form a giant tsunami wave that would destroy everything on the coast. The T-15 project remained at the level of drawings and sketches, since at that time the USSR submarine fleet did not have the ability to carry ballistic missiles.

“Here, the approach is completely different. It is based on burning and infecting all ports on the US coast. There are not so many of them - I know only 17 pieces, and not all of them can accept large ocean-going ships. This will automatically create insurmountable logistical problems for the United States when waging a war in Europe, and when obtaining resources from the occupied territories,” they discuss in social networks.

Why are Rubin designers famous?

Petersburg Design Bureau specializes in the design of submarines and deep-sea special equipment. In the bowels of the bureau, the Russian strategic Boreas were born, the diesel-electric Varshavyankas operating around the world, the Lada submarines with an air-independent engine operating on the principle of an electrochemical generator are in the process of development.

According to official data from the annual reports of Sevmash and government contracts, the developer of Belgorod and Khabarovsk is also Rubin.

Igor Vilnit's subordinates also have experience in creating autonomous underwater vehicles. Back in 2007, the Harpsichord AUV, an almost 6-meter, 2.5-ton deep-sea robot for surveying bottom objects, saw the light. It is able to dive into the depths of the sea for 6 km and pass without returning to the surface for 300 km.

Is there any evidence of the development of a "self-propelled underwater vehicle"?

There is no doubt that a promising autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle is indeed being created in the depths of Rubin. This is evidenced by tenders for carrying out component parts of development work to create a “promising power source for AUVs”, a high-pressure pump unit for the buoyancy control system of a promising AUV”, “information control systems and information systems for a promising AUV complex”.

However, more can be gleaned from the procurement documentation. detailed information about the work being carried out in the bureau, it is not possible, therefore, it cannot be reliably asserted that the results of all the above R & D will help Russia create the same “self-propelled underwater vehicle”. It may well be a new incarnation of the already demonstrated Juno drone.

To whom is Status subject?

If the information shown to the whole world does not turn out to be a specially launched "duck", then be glad for the replenishment Navy Russia will not succeed with new technology anyway. Because giving orders to the commanders of "Belgorod" and "Khabarovsk" will not be the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, but the head of the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research of the Ministry of Defense, a structure separate from the fleet within the military department. Now this position is occupied by Vice Admiral, Hero of Russia Alexei Burilichev.

The own fleet of this formation, subordinated directly to the Minister of Defense, is very large. In addition to submarines, nuclear deep-sea stations and uninhabited underwater vehicles, the GUGI operates the oceanographic research vessel Yantar, the experimental vessel Seliger, the rescue vessel Zvyozdochka, and tugboats. Several more vessels for the department and a transport floating dock of the covered type "Sviyaga" are under construction.

On the websites of lovers of military equipment it is indicated that since 1988 in Russia they have been developing a robotic boat-based submarine "Skif". There are several versions about what it is. It could be a missile that can wait for a launch at the bottom of the sea, or some kind of underwater projectile that travels part of the way under water, and then launches a cruise missile at a ground target. The project is led by the Central Design Bureau of Transportation "Rubin". The same design bureau is indicated in the document that was aired on TV.

To top it off "Putin's favorite journalist" indicates that if a secret is leaked Russian torpedo and was, then not the first, referring to the publication in the American edition of The Washington Free Beacon on September 8 entitled "Russia is building a nuclear-armed drone submarine."

In this article, the author of the publication, Bill Gertz, described the concept of this submarine and said that, according to the American classification, it was given the code name Kanyon, and all the details of this secret Russian program are discussed only in a narrow circle of American government officials. At the same time, experts interviewed by Free Beacon called Kanyon a threat to US security and pointed to it as an example " aggressive behavior Russia". Domestic weapon lovers believe that this is the Skif project.

The name "Status-6" was never mentioned on the Russian Internet before the presentation was shown on television. After the appearance of information about the secret apparatus, blogs began to discuss whether it was an accident or a deliberate leak. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, who usually refutes almost all information coming from unofficial sources, unexpectedly confirmed the accidental leak of one page from a secret presentation. At the same time, Peskov reacted specifically to blog posts, and not to publications in major media - this story did not receive much resonance before his comment. Moreover, the Kremlin spokesman said he knew nothing about whether anyone was punished for leaking classified information. He promised to take "preventive measures so that this does not happen again", but did not promise that those responsible would be brought to justice. After Peskov's speech, a message appeared that journalists were forbidden to film participants in meetings with Putin, with the exception of the president himself.

Against missile defense?

The meeting with Putin was devoted to the possibilities of overcoming the American missile defense system with Russian strategic weapons.

“Over the past three years, enterprises of the military-industrial complex have created and successfully tested a number of promising weapons systems that are capable of solving combat missions in a layered missile defense system. Such systems have already begun to enter the troops this year. And today we will talk about how the development of new types of weapons is going on, ”Putin said, opening the meeting.

According to experts, "Status-6" is considered as a weapon that can potentially bypass missile defense, since this system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles and cannot attack targets in the depths of the ocean.

The American missile defense system is a strong irritant for the Russian leadership. In Moscow, despite assurances from the Americans that by deploying missile defense facilities in Europe, Washington only wants to protect its allies from strikes from rogue states, they believe that this system is directed against Russia and is intended solely to destroy Russian ballistic missiles.

Many experts contacted by the BBC for comment said that they consider the emergence of information about the new weapon to be a deliberate stuffing, the purpose of which is to demonstrate to the West the readiness for confrontation.

A BBC source related to the military-industrial complex said that, in his opinion, the demonstration of secret documents in front of television cameras at a meeting with the president cannot be an accident, and most likely this was done in order to demonstrate Russia's readiness to resist Western system PRO.

"Destruction of objects"

The performance characteristics of the future nuclear torpedo are unknown. The document only contains the main indicators - depth up to 1000 meters, speed - up to 185 km per hour (it is kilometers per hour that appear in the document, and not the nodes in which the speed of marine vehicles is most often measured), range - up to 10 thousand kilometers, caliber - 1.6 meters.

The project 09852 Belgorod and Project 09851 Khabarovsk special-purpose nuclear submarines under construction are indicated on the page as intended carriers.

In the shown document, the name "Ocean multi-purpose system" Status-6 "appears, but only one way of its application is mentioned there.

“The defeat of important objects of the enemy’s economy in the coastal area and the infliction of guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time,” it says.

Konstantin Sivkov, commenting on the appearance of information about System-6, said that a torpedo of such a project would most likely be quite large and would be able to carry a high-yield nuclear charge up to 100 megatons.

“At the calculated point, there is an explosion, and a wave will rise to a height of 400-500 meters and wash away all living things one and a half thousand kilometers deep into the United States. Moreover, explosions of such monstrous force initiate volcanic activity,” he said.

However, according to another expert, Konstantin Bogdanov, a military observer for Lenta.Ru, it is too early to talk about the purpose of this torpedo. According to him, the presence of the word "multi-purpose" in the name of the project suggests that its nuclear status is not necessarily the main one.

“The combat module presented in this super torpedo can easily be used for other purposes, including the delivery of special equipment, deployment of reconnaissance equipment, and so on. We can easily get a situation where such development work is underway, but the actual purpose of the system may differ from that demonstrated. But, perhaps, it will include this too, ”he said.

Underwater arms race

As military expert Viktor Murakhovsky told the BBC, both Russia and the United States have been working in the field of military or dual-use deep-sea vehicles for many years and follow each other's work as much as possible. Therefore, the new development, he believes, is unlikely to be a big sensation for the military.

“For the US, this is not a secret. They also work in this area - in the field of automatic underwater vehicles for searching and destroying submarines and uninhabited underwater vehicles, ”he said.

A little more about Russian weapons: for example, and here is the opinion that The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

Putin showed "Kuzkin's mother"

"Status-6": the General Staff scares the West with the apocalypse

The media “accidentally” filmed a new development capable of eliminating America from the depths.

Without exaggeration, the stunning document hit the lenses of the TV channels of two federal media at a meeting on development of the defense industry in Sochi, which was held on November 9, 2015 by Vladimir Putin. Recall that then the president said that Russia would develop strike systems capable of overcoming any missile defense systems.

NTV and Channel One showed stories (now deleted), where, allegedly by chance, through the back, presumably, the head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, the concept and timing of the implementation of the development, which, in theory, is stamped "Top Secret", namely, the ocean multi-purpose system "Status-6".

As you can see from the screenshot, its developer is Rubin Central Design Bureau MT. This is one of the leading Soviet and Russian enterprises in the design of submarines, both diesel-electric and nuclear, for example, the Borey SSBN.

The purpose of the system is “to defeat important objects of the enemy’s economy in the coastal area and inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time.”

Two nuclear submarines are depicted as intended carriers: the Belgorod special-purpose nuclear submarine under construction - an unfinished Antey-class cruiser, which was relaid on December 20, 2012 according to a special project 09852, and also a special-purpose submarine laid down on July 27, 2014 at Sevmash "Khabarovsk" project 09851.

First, it should be said about special purpose submarines. On August 1, in Severodvinsk, a ceremony was held to withdraw workshop No. 15 of the special-purpose nuclear submarine BS-64 Podmoskovye from the boathouse. The submarine was converted from a Project 667BDRM K-64 missile carrier into a boat designed to work with nuclear deep-sea stations (AGS) and uninhabited underwater vehicles in the interests of the top-secret Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) of the Russian Defense Ministry. This boat has yet to undergo mooring and then factory sea trials, after which the BS-64 "Podmoskovye" in the fleet will replace the boat "Orenburg", in 1996-2002 also converted from a project 667BDR missile carrier.

During sea trials, the BS-64 will presumably interact with the AGS of the Kashalot, Halibut and Losharik projects. Or rather, to be the carrier (womb boat) of one or another “baby”, as the AGS is also called. The carrier secretly delivers a mini-submarine (AGS), which has a low speed, to the desired area, after which it disconnects it for autonomous operation.

"Orenburg" and AGS are part of the mysterious 29th separate brigade submarines of the Northern Fleet, which performs tasks in the interests of the GUGI. For reference: until 1986, the "kids" were not included in the Navy, but were part of the General Staff unit associated with the GRU. We also note that the former commander of the 29th OBR submarine of the Northern Fleet, Rear Admiral Vladimir Dronov, and more than ten officers bear the titles of Heroes of the Russian Federation (read about what tasks can be performed by special purpose nuclear submarines and AGS in the material - Nuclear Submarine "Podmoskovye": an underwater reconnaissance aircraft is being prepared for hunting).

Now with regard to the Status-6 system. In early September of this year, the American edition of The Washington Free Beacon reported that Russia was allegedly creating an “underwater drone” codenamed “Canyon”, capable of carrying nuclear weapons with a yield of tens of megatons and threatening US ports and coastal cities.

Then the naval analyst Norman Polmar suggested that the Canyon system was based on the Soviet T-15 straight-line nuclear torpedo with a capacity of 100 megatons (the idea of ​​Academician Sakharov), which was designed in the 50s just for striking coastal targets in the territory USA.

In his memoirs, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov said the following about this: “One of the first with whom I discussed this project was Rear Admiral Fomin ... He was shocked by the“ cannibalistic nature ”of the project and noted in a conversation with me that military sailors were used to fighting an armed enemy in open battle and that the very thought of such a massacre is disgusting to him.

Interestingly, for security reasons, as well as taking into account other factors, the T-15 torpedo was developed without the participation of the Navy. The Navy learned about it only through the project of the first nuclear submarine.

Note that at one time it was for such a large torpedo that the first Soviet nuclear submarine of project 627 was specially created, which was supposed to have not eight torpedo tubes, but one - with a caliber of 1.55 meters and a length of up to 23.5 meters. It was assumed that the T-15 would be able to approach the American naval base and, with a super-powerful charge of several tens of megatons, demolish all life. But then this idea was abandoned in favor of a submarine with eight torpedoes, which could solve a whole range of tasks. And as a result, nuclear submarines of project 627A were created.

Military historians claim that the Soviet admirals, having familiarized themselves with the project in 1954, declared with confidence that the submarine would certainly be destroyed on the way to the American base. Moreover, the entrances to all American bases for many kilometers close the winding shores of bays, islands, shoals, as well as booms, steel nets. Like, such obstacles on the way to the object of the T-15 torpedo cannot be overcome.

However, as military expert and historian Alexander Shirokorad said, in 1961 the idea of ​​the T-15 was revived again at the suggestion of Academician Andrei Sakharov.

- The fact is that in fact the tactics of using such a super-torpedo could be completely different. The nuclear submarine was supposed to secretly launch a torpedo at a distance from the coast much more than 40 km. Having used up all the energy of the batteries, the T-15 would lay down on the ground, that is, it would become an intelligent bottom mine. The torpedo fuse could be in standby mode for a long time for a signal from an aircraft or ship, which could be used to detonate a charge. The bottom line is that damage to naval bases, ports and other coastal facilities, including cities, would be caused by a powerful shock wave - a tsunami caused by nuclear explosion…

That is, based on a document leaked to the media, Russia decided to revive the idea of ​​Academician Sakharov?

Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis, is convinced that such a scenario of an unplanned leak of information about developments labeled “Top Secret” in the media cannot exist in principle.

“There can be no doubt that this is a deliberate stuffing. The goal is to make a known adversary think about their actions. But, to be honest, I strongly doubt that the development under discussion will be implemented in hardware. That is, this leak is most likely pure disinformation. If only because the creation of "zones of extensive radioactive contamination" does not require any additional development. Existing intercontinental missiles can do this anyway, the expert concludes.

Thus, the purpose of demonstrating the document in front of the lens of cameras with a top-secret system is to frighten and puzzle Western "partners".

However, if we assume that the development of such a system is really carried out by the Central Design Bureau MT Rubin? What does this mean?

Corresponding member of the RARAN, captain 1st rank of the reserve Konstantin Sivkov, commenting on this "leak" in the media, suggests that, apparently, we can talk about the fact that special-purpose submarines will solve combat missions in the future.

- If the Status-6 ocean multi-purpose system is really being developed, then this, in my opinion, can only indicate one thing - our leadership is aware of the likelihood of a military clash with the West and is taking measures to counter the American threat of a military-technical nature - the concept of "Fast Global strike, etc. And, apparently, the threat is quite serious, since we are talking about such a variant of guaranteed containment.

At one time, I put forward the idea (I also voiced it at the international military-technical forum "Army-2015") that Russia needs to develop an asymmetric megaweapon that will eliminate any threat of a large-scale war against Russia, even in conditions of absolute superiority of the enemy in terms of traditional systems defeat. Apparently, this development is in the same paradigm.

The fact is that from a geophysical point of view, the United States is a very vulnerable country. A guaranteed source of catastrophic geophysical processes there can be, first of all, an impact on the Yellowstone supervolcano to initiate a powerful eruption, as well as the explosion of a powerful munition in the area of ​​the San Andreas, San Gabriel or San Jocinto faults.

The impact of a sufficiently powerful nuclear weapon can provoke catastrophic events that can completely destroy the US infrastructure on the Pacific coast with large-scale tsunamis. The initiation of giant tsunamis is the idea of ​​Academician Sakharov. When several munitions are detonated at calculated points along the Atlantic and Pacific transform faults, according to scientists, a wave will form that will reach a height of 400-500 meters or more off the coast of the United States ...

It is quite realistic to initiate such large-scale geophysical processes. Since today it is possible to “fit” high-power ammunition into the weight and size characteristics, for example, of the same ICBM.

To strike targets on the coast of the United States: the ocean multi-purpose system "Status-6"

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that in the stories of a number of Russian TV channels, dedicated to the meeting held the day before with the president on defense topics, weapons systems that have been classified so far were demonstrated. “We hope that this will not happen again,” Peskov said, Interfax reports. The TV report of the NTV channel on the meeting chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of the defense industry showed visual materials on the status-6 ocean multi-purpose system.

Purpose - "the defeat of important objects of the enemy's economy in the coastal area and the infliction of guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country's territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination, unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time." The project 09852 Belgorod special-purpose nuclear submarine under construction is shown at the top left as the intended carriers, and the Khabarovsk special-purpose nuclear submarine of project 09851 under construction is shown on the right.

Recall that in the structure of the Ministry of Defense there is a top-secret Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI). It trains specialists in the field of deep-sea activities, conducts scientific research in the field of scuba diving, monitors the World Ocean, and searches for and rescues sunken objects. These submarines are under his control.

The editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, Igor Korotchenko, in an interview with the VZGLYAD newspaper, refused to discuss whether the information was declassified on purpose. This assumption was made by many Russian publications on Wednesday evening.

“It is important that the United States received an absolutely clear signal that Russia is developing new strike weapons that make the American concept of missile defense meaningless. The Russian military-industrial complex will find military-technical solutions to neutralize any potentially dangerous American military programs for our country,” Korotchenko told the VZGLYAD newspaper. He recalled that there had been leaks about the creation of such weapons systems by Russia in the Western press before, but they were not specific. In particular, some time ago, the American press reported on the development in Russia of a top-secret underwater drone.

“The fact that such a system is being created is, to a certain extent, news to all of us, since it is, as it were, legalized. We proceed from the fact that there are opportunities for a potential aggressor to get hit even if he uses the concept of the so-called global lightning strike,” the expert is sure.

Korotchenko is sure that the published information was immediately reported to the US leadership and "American intelligence agencies will now carefully analyze and predict further developments." "Russia has shown that America's attempts to cover itself with a missile defense umbrella are absolutely pointless, there are opportunities for other non-traditional solutions for strategic parity between our countries," he said.

“In this regard, Russia is a self-sufficient military power, which once again demonstrates to the whole world that attempts to dictate by force, attempts to implement plans for a surprise strike on our country with the hope of depriving it of its nuclear status, is an absolutely senseless undertaking,” summed up Igor Korotchenko.

Tsunami of Academician Sakharov

In the light of yesterday's ummm... the leak, it would be useful to remember how it all began in the USSR and how it could end for the USA...

In the 1950s, the USSR planned to bring down a giant tsunami on America

Few people know that in the 1950s, the Soviet Union planned to flood the coastal cities of America - with the help of an artificial tsunami.

A giant wave with a height of more than 300 m comes from the Atlantic and falls on New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Annapolis. The wave reaches the roofs of skyscrapers. It is much higher than in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow". Another wave covers the west coast near Charleston. Two more waves hit San Francisco and Los Angeles. Just one wave is enough to wash away low-lying Houston, New Orleans, and Pensacola on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

All these giant tsunamis should have been caused not by an underwater earthquake and not by the fall of huge meteorites, but by a series of deep-sea thermonuclear explosions with a capacity of 100 Mt each. In 1952, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria was offered to wash America off the face of the earth by a 30-year-old doctor of sciences Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov. It was the same humanist academician who was exiled to Gorky after speaking out against the introduction of Soviet troops to Afghanistan. And in 1953 he received the title of academician, not least for this project.

Transport for a nuclear bomb

In August 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was tested. A few months later, the Soviet military produced several dozen bombs, which received the name "Tatiana" from the developers, since the product index began with the letter "T". At the same time, only the Tupolev Tu-4 bomber, an almost exact copy of the outdated American B-29 flying fortress, could deliver the Tatiana to the territory of a potential enemy.

However, in 1952, this slow-moving, piston-engined Tu-4 was easy prey for American F-86 jet fighters. And most importantly, the Tu-4 could fly to the United States only by making an intermediate landing at an ice airfield on one of the northern islands, or even on an ice floe near North Pole. At the same time, the bomber crew did not have a return ticket. If there was enough fuel, then they were supposed to fly to the border with Mexico and jump out with a parachute.

True, Tupolev and Myasishchev worked on the creation of high-speed jet bombers Tu-16 and MZ, but they could only reach the target in the same way as the Tu-4. The ultra-long-range strategic bomber Tu-95 Tupolev has not yet dreamed of. It turned out that the nuclear bomb was invented and successfully tested, but how to use it if necessary, was poorly represented.

Meanwhile, the Cold War was in full swing. American newspapers regularly published plans for the destruction nuclear bombs tens and hundreds of Soviet cities. The war could start at any moment. Hundreds of American B-36, B-50 and B-29 strategic bombers were stationed at air bases in Western Europe, Turkey, Pakistan and Japan. Dozens of them patrolled around the borders of the Union around the clock with nuclear bombs on board.

And now a young physicist, a participant in the creation of a nuclear and thermonuclear bomb, offers a super-original method for delivering a thermonuclear charge to the territory of a potential enemy.

city ​​killer

Andrei Sakharov proposed arming the first Soviet nuclear submarine (NPS) of project 627 with a huge 1550 mm caliber apparatus for the T-15 super torpedo with a thermonuclear charge. And for self-defense, equip it also with two torpedo tubes of a "normal" caliber of 533 mm. According to the plan, the super torpedo was supposed to carry a thermonuclear warhead with a power of up to 100 Mt! The explosion of such a bomb would lead to the formation of a giant tsunami and instantly destroy not only the coastal naval bases of the enemy, but also everything that was not far from the coast.

The project of this formidable weapon, apparently, was born in Sakharov's head shortly after July 14, 1952. On this day, US President Harry Truman took part in a grand show - the solemn laying of the world's first nuclear submarine "Nautilus". Externally, the "Nautilus" repeated the contours of conventional diesel-battery American submarines of the Second World War. Its armament consisted of six 533-mm torpedo tubes.

Seven weeks after the laying of the Nautilus, on September 9, 1952, Stalin signed the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the start of work on the "object 627". An interesting moment: the work was carried out in secret from the command of our Navy! The fact is that after the war, Stalin had a very low opinion of the moral character of our military leaders, he knew about their talkativeness, inclination to Bacchus. But unlike in 1937-1938, the leader did not imprison them, but simply blocked their access to the development of the latest types of weapons. So, our military learned about the creation of nuclear and hydrogen bomb, ballistic missiles R-1, R-2 and R-5, the Kometa cruise missile, the Moscow Berkut air defense system only a few years after the start of work on them.

In June 1954, the construction of the first nuclear submarine began at plant number 402 in the city of Molotovsk (since 1957 - Severodvinsk). The construction of the ship under the conditions of the secrecy regime was carried out at a specially created autonomous shipyard, which occupied the premises of a workshop that was built before the war to assemble the turret installations of Project 23 battleships. At the same time, a ground-based prototype of a ship's nuclear power plant was created in Obninsk.

At the same time, a 1550 mm torpedo tube was designed and even manufactured. The mass of the warhead of the torpedo (not to be confused with the power of the bomb) was 4 tons, and the length reached 8 meters. The whole torpedo was 40-ton and 24-meter, occupying a quarter (!) Of the length of the created submarine. Powerful batteries provided the torpedo with a speed of up to 29 knots and a range of up to 40 kilometers. At the same time, the electric engine of the torpedo, in contrast to the conventional combined cycle, provided significantly less noise.

Torpedo turned mine

Information about this most secret development was divulged at the dawn of perestroika by Sakharov himself. However, speaking about the tactics of using supertorpedoes, the academician was cunning. According to him, the submarine was supposed to approach the enemy naval base 40 km and fire a torpedo at it, which was supposed to enter the inner bay of the base and explode. But, after talking with the admirals, the project leaders realized that with such tactics, the submarine, most likely, would have been deliberately destroyed on the way to the American base. The anti-submarine defense of the US Navy in the mid-late 1950s would hardly have let an enemy submarine into the 50-kilometer zone around its base. In addition, the entrances to most American naval bases covered the winding shores of bays, islands, and shallows for many kilometers. Even in peacetime, booms cover the entrance to the base. So even without the enemy’s PLO system, the torpedo had no chance of getting into the pier.

In fact, the tactics of using supertorpedoes should have been completely different. The submarine was supposed to secretly launch a torpedo at a distance from the coast much more than 40 km. And not at the entrance to the base, but preferably away from it. The supertorpedo had to use up all the energy of the batteries and lie down on the ground. In wartime, the clock fuse was further turned on, which worked only when the boat could be guaranteed to go to a safe distance. And in the pre-war period, the torpedo fuse could for a long time (days, weeks) be in the standby mode of the radio-silt and hydroacoustic signal, according to which the charge was detonated.

Thus, the super torpedo, having reached a predetermined point, became a bottom mine. Thanks to this system, several nuclear submarines of project 627 could covertly place thermonuclear charges in neutral waters near the most important enemy targets in the pre-war period.

The brutality that struck the military

In July 1954, military sailors were allowed to familiarize themselves with the T-15 torpedo project for the first time - a group of specialists led by Rear Admiral A.E. Eagle. Having learned about the essence of the undertaking, the sailors reared up. Many arguments have been put forward against the T-15 torpedo. And, in the end, they managed to convince N.S. Khrushchev to refuse to continue work on such fantastic weapons. The main argument was the opinion of hydrographers and oceanologists. They concluded that the bottom topography of east coast The US will significantly weaken the energy of the wave. The coast of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast, was not considered at all.

The tragedy in New Orleans showed that our scientists made a big mistake or, most likely, succumbed to the pressure of the Navy command. After all, in Soviet time both hydrographers and oceanographers were very financially dependent on military sailors. Not last role apparently, the "humanity" of the Soviet military played in making the final decision. They remarked to Academician Sakharov that they were accustomed to fighting the enemy in open combat and that the idea of ​​such a massacre was itself disgusting to them. Indeed, in addition to the military, many civilians would inevitably suffer from a bomb of such power. So, the T-15 torpedo of monstrous size, stored on the site of one of the workshops of the plant in Molotovsk, was forgotten for a long time.

And instead of equipping the submarine with this colossus, two alternative projects were proposed. According to the first, the Project 627 nuclear submarine was to be re-equipped with eight bow torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber, but a combined-cycle torpedo T-5 with a nuclear warhead. And later, submarines of all other projects could be equipped with T-5 torpedoes.

According to the second project (NPS P-627A based on project 627), the boat was to be equipped with one powerful cruise missile P-20, which was designed in OKB-240 under the direction of SV. Ilyushin. The P-20 flew three times faster than sound and could deliver the special unit "Product 46" to a range of 3,000 km. How the work on the P-20 went, and why it was not put into service is a topic for a separate discussion.

As for the T-5 nuclear torpedo, its warhead was first blown up on September 21, 1955 on Novaya Zemlya. On October 10, 1957, at the same range, the S-144 submarine (project 613) fired a T-5 torpedo at a group of target ships from a distance of 10 km. The boat immediately went over the stone cape for reinsurance. The explosion occurred at a depth of 35 m, the deviation from the aiming point was 130 m. However, six target ships were sunk by a nuclear explosion: two destroyers, two minesweepers and two submarines.

final fireworks

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning the fate of the 100-megaton warhead for the T-15 torpedo. This warhead, which later received the code "product 202", was manufactured in the second half of the 1950s. At first, an attempt was made to use the Tu-95 turbojet bomber as a means of delivery. But, alas, nothing came of it. As a result, the bomb lay peacefully in a warehouse in Arzamas-16, and the T-95 bomber adapted to carry it was written off as unnecessary and stood at the back of the airfield in the city of Engels, awaiting disposal.

But here the indefatigable N.S. intervened. Khrushchev, who was impatient to make a gift to the XXII Congress and at the same time show "Kuzkin's mother" to a potential enemy. As a result, the bomb was taken out of the warehouse, modernized, reducing its power from 100 to 50 megatons (the power of a bomb is a rather arbitrary thing, it all depends on the method of calculation). And on October 30, 1961, a Tu-95 bomber dropped a 50-megaton bomb from a height of 11.5 km in the area of ​​​​the Matochkin Shar Strait on Novaya Zemlya. The famous "Kuzkina's mother" became the most powerful explosion in the history of mankind and at the same time the last chord of the failed tsunami project of Academician Sakharov.

Alexander Shirokorad

US authorities have confirmed the existence of a project for a Russian unmanned submarine capable of delivering a nuclear strike on the United States. This conclusion was reached by the American media after analyzing the 47-page text of the draft of the new US nuclear doctrine.

“In addition to the ongoing modernization of the Soviet nuclear legacy, Russia is developing new nuclear warheads and launchers. These attempts include updating every component of the nuclear triad: strategic bombers, sea-based and land-based missiles. Russia is also developing at least two new intercontinental strike systems, a hypersonic glider and a new strategic nuclear submarine autonomous torpedo.

It's about about the project of the nuclear robotic system "Status-6". Earlier, the American authorities did not confirm the information about the existence of this secret Russian project. At the end of 2016, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Davis said: “We are closely following the development of Russian submarine technology, but we will not comment on it.” However, "Status-6" was still assigned an index according to the NATO classification - "Canyon" (Kanyon).

The storm of American power

It is generally accepted that for the first time about "Status-6" it became "accidentally" known from a presentation for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The "Secret Slide" was shown on November 9, 2015 at one of the meetings on the development of the military-industrial complex.

“Indeed, some secret data got into the camera lens, so they were subsequently deleted. We hope that this will not happen again,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, commented on the “leak”.

However, Russian and foreign analysts were not inclined to trust the Kremlin speaker's explanation. The point of view was established in the expert community that Moscow deliberately allowed the demonstration of the Status-6 project to the general public. This may indicate that the development of an underwater drone is nearing completion.

In the West, they fear that the deadly drone could become another "nuclear trump card" in the sleeve of Moscow. In such a situation, the United States will have to increase military spending, inventing new methods to counter the Russian nuclear submarine fleet.

In Russia, the Status-6 project is perceived as an additional and very effective tool for deterring the United States. Considering the potential power of this atomic drone warhead, analysts conclude that the project is Moscow's asymmetric response to Washington's policy. Such a destructive weapon crosses out the US efforts to improve the global missile defense system and create some kind of superweapon against the Russian Federation.

It is assumed that "Status-6" will ensure the guaranteed defeat of the naval bases of the overseas superpower. The berths of American submarines carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles are mainly under threat. American missile carriers can be hit Russian drones both during the period of combat duty in the oceans, and during the stay in the dock.

In addition, "Status-6" can become a doomsday weapon. In the event of a nuclear war, drones will strike at American cities, which are extremely vulnerable to the submarine fleet of the Russian Federation, as they are located on the coast of the oceans.

Of course, in response to the appearance of "Status-6" in the Russian Navy, the United States can create a similar nuclear drone in a short time (it is quite possible that the Americans are already developing it). However, it is obvious that the effect of its use against the Russian Federation will not be comparable. Almost all big cities Russia is located inside the continent.

The heir to the Soviet Tsar-torpedo

In "Status-6" Russia de facto embodies the idea of ​​the times cold war about the creation of a tsar torpedo (the Soviet project T-15), capable of delivering a nuclear charge to the US coast. However, the T-15 is only a distant prototype of the Russian "Status-6", which will be distinguished by a developed artificial intelligence. This robotic drone will be as autonomous as possible from its operator.

From the earlier “leak”, it follows that the Russian underwater drone, equipped with a mini-nuclear reactor, will perform tasks at a distance of up to 10 thousand kilometers, diving to a depth of one kilometer. "Status-6" will be placed on the Belgorod nuclear-powered ships of project 949AM "Antey" and "Khabarovsk" of project 09851. Both submarines are under construction, which is expected to be completed in 2020.

The length of the drone will be 24 meters, and the combat module - 6.5 meters. The speed of the device is amazing. It is claimed that it can reach 90 knots (166 km/h). For comparison, the American MK-48 torpedo has a speed of 55 knots. Such speed characteristics make Russian drone immune to interception.

Technical support and the repair of Status-6 will be carried out by the experimental diesel-electric submarine B-90 Sarov of project 20120 and auxiliary vessels of project 20180 Zvyozdochka. The development of the drone is carried out by the St. Petersburg Central Design Bureau of MT "Rubin" - the flagship of the design ideas of the Russian Federation in the field of the submarine fleet.

At the moment, only one test of "Status-6" is known. In December 2016, The Washington Free Beacon, citing US intelligence data, reported that in the fall, a drone was released into the sea from the Sarov. There is no information about test results.

In November 2017, The National Interest published an article by analyst Michael Peck entitled "Russia is developing a very strange weapon - underwater intercontinental ballistic missiles." The author of the material doubts that Moscow is capable of developing a nuclear-powered drone that meets the characteristics stated in the media.

"On ocean depth a thousand meters there are many seamounts and canyons (one American nuclear submarine almost sank when it collided with such a mountain at a depth of 160 meters). How, then, will the Status-6 torpedo swim 10,000 kilometers without crashing into some rock if it does not have an ultra-modern navigation system, or if a kamikaze navigator is not put at the helm? ”, Peck asks rhetorically.

Indeed, St. Petersburg designers will have to solve a lot of complex problems. Domestic experts admit that Russia is far behind the United States in the development of autonomous underwater systems and artificial intelligence. At the same time, one should not underestimate the capabilities of the same Rubin. At least in the West, they are convinced that Russia is making every effort to close the gap in air and underwater drones.

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