Posidon is a Russian underwater unmanned vehicle with a nuclear power plant, which is officially positioned as a strategic weapons of retaliatory strike. Its main feature is the ability to carry a nuclear warhead over virtually unlimited distance underwater, making it a fundamentally new class of armaments without a world analogue. Key Characteristics According to official statements and expert assessments, the parameters of the vehicle look as follows. Parameter Value Developer Central Design Bureau for Marine Technology “Rubin” (St. Petersburg) Length ~20 meters Diameter ~1.8–2 meters Weight ~100 tons Range Up to 10,000 km Speed 60–100 knots (110–185 km/h) Depth Up to 1,000 meters Warhead Power ~2 megatons Power Plant Nuclear reactor with liquid metal coolant Vehicles SSN “Belgorod” (Project 09852), SSN “Khabarovsk” (Project 09851) Development History The existence of the vehicle first became known in 2015 from a leak on Russian state television. Officially, “Posidon” was presented by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 as part of the announcement of new strategic weapons. The key stage of testing was October 2025, when, according to Putin, it was first possible not only to launch the vehicle from a submarine carrier but also to activate the nuclear power plant on which it worked for a certain period of time. In May 2026, Putin said that work on “Posidon” is at the final stage. Role and Designation in Strategy “Posidon” is considered a weapons of retaliatory strike. It ...
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