Putin’s new rocket unveiled explodes at test facility – huge crater

The Sarmat is supposed to be the star of the Russian intercontinental missiles. But the missile has apparently failed again before a test.

They were supposed to be one of the most dangerous Russian ballistic missiles and be able to carry nuclear warheads up to 18,000 kilometers. But the RS-28 Sarmat, which Moscow’s ruler Vladimir Putin announced in 2018, is still not in service. Now there has been a new setback for the Russian developers.

Satellite images of the Russian Plesetsk Cosmodrome test site, based on publicly available sources, show massive destruction. Apparently work was being carried out on the rocket on Saturday, reports the US magazine “Newsweek”. The images on the X-account of a specialist in the analysis of aerial photographs show a huge crater and damage on the test site.

“As you can easily see, the RS-28 Sarmat test was a complete failure. The missile detonated in the silo and left a huge crater that destroyed the test site,” user MeNMyRC wrote about the images.

The rocket is powered by a liquid fuel, it continues. It is possible that there was an accident during refueling. Other images show fire engines near the test facility to extinguish a fire in the forest. So far, there has only been one successful test of the rocket, and that was in April 2022.

The fact that the missile was not yet ready for launch could also be explained by the absence of a NATO aircraft. The “Cobra Ball” reconnaissance aircraft is usually in the air whenever a Russian missile is about to be launched. However, it does not appear in publicly available data at the time of the accident, according to X.

This latest incident is the fourth unsuccessful test of the Sarmat missile, although it has already been put on “combat readiness,” according to United24Media. Just last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country was on “full combat readiness.”

Russia actually needs the Sarmat missile generation to replace the old Voevoda (NATO name: Satan). These date back to the 1970s, according to an analysis by the Berlin think tank “Carnegie Politika”. They were considered to be an outstanding aircraft. The problem: They were developed and produced in Ukraine. Russia looked for an alternative and began developing the Sarmat.

Last year, Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov announced that the Sarmat was already in service. However, on October 5, 2023, Putin stated that while the rocket had passed all relevant tests, some “administrative procedures” still needed to be completed before it could go into mass production and be handed over to the military. He promised that this would happen “in the near future.”

Now, almost a year later, tests are still being carried out. For Putin, the failed test, and above all the fact that it became known, is likely to be another setback in his efforts to portray Russia as a strong opponent.

Munich-based rocket specialist Markus Schiller told the “Welt” newspaper that the possible accident with the Sarmat rocket was proof “that it is not yet reliable.” There are obviously deeper problems in Russia’s rocket industry, he added.