Russia Successfully Tests Secret Nuclear-Powered 'Poseidon' Torpedo

Russia has successfully conducted tests on parts of its next-generation "Poseidon" nuclear-capable torpedo, according to reports.

Testing of reactors for the Poseidon unmanned nuclear-powered underwater drones shows "their operability and safety have been confirmed," Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on June 23. The report was also shared on Russian-language social media channels.

"They are ready to work as intended," the Kremlin-backed outlet quoted an unnamed source "in the military-industrial complex." The first "sea tests" are scheduled for this summer.

The existence of the Poseidon "super-torpedo" was leaked to the international media in 2015 before it was formally announced in 2018. Moscow intends for the Poseidon, which can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, to be a "second- or third-strike option that could ensure a retaliatory strike against U.S. cities," according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report from March 2022.

The unmanned underwater vehicle is also referred to as a nuclear torpedo in Russian media, which RIA reported is "capable of causing a tsunami when used off the coast of the enemy." Russian state television commentators have suggested using the weapon on Kyiv's Western allies over the course of the Russia-Ukraine War.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry via email for comment.

In an address in March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia had developed "unmanned submersible vehicles" that can move "at a speed multiple times higher than the speed of submarines."

"They are quiet, highly maneuverable and have hardly any vulnerabilities for the enemy to exploit," Putin said at the time. "There is simply nothing in the world capable of withstanding them."

Also known as "Status-6" or "Kanyon," state media reported that the torpedo is 20 meters long and 1.8 meters in diameter, weighing in at around 100 tons. Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow for seapower and missile defense at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Euronews Next in May 2022 that the weapon could have a range of at least 10,000 kilometers, or 6,200 miles.

As a nuclear-powered weapon, it could have a "theoretically unlimited range," the U.S. Naval Institute, a non-profit military organization, said the same month.

The Russian state news agency Tass reported in January 2019 that the Russian Navy would put around 32 Poseidon drones on combat duty across four submarines, with each vessel carrying eight Poseidon torpedoes. These submarines would be part of Russia's Northern and Pacific fleets, the outlet said.

Special-purpose submarines, carrying the Poseidon "super-torpedo," will join the Pacific Fleet in the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula between the end of next year and the start of 2025, according to Tass.

The news agency reported in January that the "first batch" of Poseidon nuclear-capable underwater drones had been produced. Some tests of Poseidon's "core components," including its nuclear power source, were also completed.