Russia’s new RS-28 Sarmat ICBM can reach orbit and strike any place on earth

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Russia has a Russian liquid-fueled, MIRV-equipped, super-heavy thermonuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile in development by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau from 2009, intended to replace the previous R-36M missile (SS-18 Satan).

Its large payload of about 10 tonnes would allow for up to 10 heavy warheads or 15 lighter ones or up to 24 hypersonic glide vehicles Yu-71/Yu-74 or a combination of warheads and massive amounts of countermeasures designed to defeat anti-missile systems.

It is the Russian military response to the U.S. hypersonic weapon’s program (Prompt Global Strike).

It is suspected to have a Fractional Orbital Bombardment (FOBS) capability. The Fractional Orbital Bombardment System objective was to bypass the weapon detection systems in the United States. Nuclear warheads are briefly placed into the Earth’s orbit. After orbiting for a short period of time, the bombs would deploy and fall to their targets from space. The system shares many similarities with the concept of kinetic bombardment systems, with the exception of the use of a nuclear warhead as opposed to an inert projectile. This weapon system also had no range limit and the orbital flight path would not reveal the target location. The RS-28 could fly a trajectory over the South Pole, completely bypassing any current U.S. missile defense system.

RS-28 has a short boost phase which makes it tougher to counter or track.

The RS-28 will replace the SS-18 by around 2023 or 2025. In early 2017, prototype missiles had been reportedly built and testing has started in 2018.