Putin presented state awards to developers of new doomsday weapon
On Russia's so-called Day of National Unity, the dictator handed out awards to the developers of the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone. They have laid the foundation for a new generation reactor-powered weapons, he said in a ceremony in the Kremlin.
"Today, here in the Kremlin, we honour people who have set an example of such worthy service to the Motherland, [and] made a significant contribution to ensuring its security and defence capability […]," Putin said as he presented awards to the developers of the Burevestnik and the Poseidon.
"I want to thank you and all the scientific and production teams – tens of thousands of people who participated in the creation of these powerful, effective and unique weapons," he added.
It is not clear who exactly received the awards, but in the room is likely to have been a group of representatives of leading defence research institutes.
The awards follow the recent weapons testing on the far northern archipelago of Franz Josef Landa and in the Kara Sea. According to Putin, the test launches of the Burevestnik and Poseidon proceeded successfully.
Reportedly, the Burevestnik missile was in the air for about 15 hours and flew 14,000 km , while the Poseidon drone was launched from a submarine, used its booster engine and shortly started its nuclear power plant.
However, the words of the dictator should not be trusted. Vladimir Putin is well-known as a notorious fabricator of information and misleader of public opinion.
Previous testing of the two new weapons has been followed by failures and accidents, several of them with lethal consequences for the military personnel involved.
While Burevestnik is a cruise missile powered by a small nuclear reactor, the Poseidon is a post-doomsday drone formed like a giant torpedo. The latter is nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed, and can allegedly travel down deep with intercontinental range.
According to Putin, foreign intelligence services are eager to know more about the weapons and a NATO intelligence ship was constantly present in the area during the Burevestnik tests on October 21.
"We did not interfere with their work. Let them take a look," he said in his address.
Among the foreign intelligence ships that are likely to have in the area is Majata, the Norwegian electronic intelligence collection vessel.
According Putin, several more weapons are now under development based on the two new reactor-powered weapons. Reportedly, a new generation of nuclear-powered cruise missiles will have a speed that will "exceed the speed of sound by more than three times and in the future become hypersonic."
Only Russian-made components are used in the manufacture of the new weapons, he argued. And the technology can be applied also for non-military purposes. That includes for unmanned vehicles, shipbuilding, navigation systems and autonomous shipping, as well as for the development of the Trans-Arctic transport corridor, he explained.
