Russia's newly-launched defense systems look like they've been taken straight out of a sci-fi movie. The key takeaways from the fiery State of the Nation address by President Vladimir Putin last week include the country's advanced nuclear warheads and their destructive capabilities that could render the most-sophisticated missile defenses useless.
Putin presented a series of videos demonstrating the new weapons' capabilities, which come forth as rather intimidating. From Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) aka Satan 2 to Avangard hypersonic vehicle with an intercontinental range and can fly in the atmosphere at 20 times faster than the speed of sound and "invincible" stealth underwater drone with unlimited range, Russia has set a new defense benchmark for the world.
One of the latest weapons of mass destruction launched by Putin last week is the Kanyon nuclear torpedo. If that name doesn't strike much fear, it is being described as a "doomsday weapon," according to the Nuclear Posture Review published by the Pentagon in January.
The "doomsday weapon" is apt for the deadly Kanyon torpedo, which has some unseen tricks up its sleeve. Check out the key facts about Kanyon and its destruction capabilities below:
- Kanyon is 80-feet long with four propellers that can hit a top speed of 100 knots, which is equivalent to 115 mph.
- Kanyon can be released thousands of miles away from the target and still not miss the target. In 2015, some leaked documents suggested it could travel up to 6,200 miles at a depth of trajectory of up to 3,300 feet, BBC reported.
- Kanyon's self-guiding capabilities can operate without human intervention while avoiding any obstacles in the path of its target.Check out this video below to get a better understanding of Kanyon's self-guidance capabilities.
- The nuclear-powered torpedo isn't a silent mover, but its incredible speeds make it hard for the defending forces to react.
- Kanyon can detonate a 100-megaton thermonuclear warhead, which can destroy the target within 1,242 miles. To put this in perspective, Popular Mechanics said if Kanyon detonates at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, it would destroy San Francisco and kill 1.3 million across Northern California and injure 1.1 million with a dangerous cloud of radiation spreading as far as Montana.
- Kanyon supersedes the most powerful 50-megaton Tsar Bomba built by the Soviet Union by at least two times.
