[FlameOn]

Russia launches new nuclear submarine designed to carry and fire nuclear-powered, nuclear armed drone torpedoes. At a length longer than the next longest submarine, the Typhoon (of Red October fame) these are currently the longest submarines in service with any navy.

On April 23, 2019, a hulking submarine named the K-139 Belgorod was christened and launched from Severodvinsk, Russia. It slid from Sevmash Shipyard into the Nikolskoye estuary off the White Sea. First laid down in 1992, the Belgorod is the world's longest submarine, surpassing Russia's Typhoon-class nuclear-missile sub and the US Navy's Ohio class. Its construction was paused for over a decade in 2000 after the disaster aboard its immediate predecessor, the Kursk—in which all the crew was lost after an explosion during missile tests. But Belgorod was resurrected with its design modified for a new purpose: carrying the Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed torpedo "drone."

But the docking bay took on a new role as Putin pushed for development of new nuclear weapons to counter a perceived strategic threat from US anti-ballistic missile deployments. That role was first hinted at when designs for a nuclear-powered, uncrewed nuclear-weapons delivery vehicle were revealed on Russian television in 2015. The Belgorod was one of two submarines shown in a slide revealed in a news report on a briefing of Putin by military chiefs. Then called "Ocean Multipurpose System 'Status-6,'" the weapon would be officially announced by Putin in March 2018.

With an "intercontinental" range of 10,000 kilometers (more than 6,200 miles) at a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour or 54 knots), the weapon now called Poseidon is reportedly capable of carrying a warhead with a yield of at least 10 megatons. That number could possibly be as great as 100, though the payload may vary depending on the type of mission.

Based on the original leaked drawing and analysis of images of tests published by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Poseidon vehicle measures about 24 meters (just under 80 feet) long and 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) in diameter. The warhead shown in the leaked diagram suggests the warhead is 4 meters (13 feet) long and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in diameter—consistent with a large thermonuclear device. The Belgorod will be able to carry four Poseidons and launch them from positions that were used on previous Oscar-class subs for cruise missiles.

The Poseidon isn't the only special project that the Belgorod will play a part in. Part of the sub's mission will likely be the deployment of Harmony, a submarine detection sensor network the Russian military is seeking to deploy in the Arctic—similar to the US Navy's SOSUS sonar network. The Belgorod will be able to ferry sensors out under the ice and deploy mini-subs to put the sensors, powered by undersea nuclear power units, in place.

https://arstechnica.com/information-...drone-torpedo/