Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the successful test of the Poseidon nuclear-powered autonomous torpedo — a weapon he described as having “no equal in the world” — even as US President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis” with other nuclear powers.
At a televised meeting with wounded Russian servicemen in a Moscow military hospital, Putin said the Poseidon was launched from a carrier submarine and its onboard nuclear reactor was activated during the test conducted on Tuesday.
“For the first time, we managed not only to launch it with a launch engine from a carrier submarine, but also to launch the nuclear power unit on which this device passed a certain amount of time,” Putin said. “There is nothing like this.”
Calling the test “a huge success,” Putin said the Poseidon’s power “significantly exceeds” that of Russia’s Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, known in the West as Satan II. The Poseidon, he said, is a nuclear-capable submersible drone capable of creating radioactive ocean swells powerful enough to render coastal regions uninhabitable.
“The nuclear-powered automatic unmanned submersible vehicle ‘Poseidon’ is much more powerful than our most advanced prospective Sarmat ballistic missile,” Putin said, adding that the weapon’s reactor is 100 times smaller than that of a strategic submarine.
Putin also said the Sarmat missile would soon enter combat duty.
“There is no other platform like the Sarmat in the world. We don’t have one on duty yet. But it will go operational soon,” he said.
The Russian leader noted that the Poseidon test followed successful trials of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, which he claimed had flown 14,000 km over 15 hours.
Moscow says both systems were developed in response to Washington’s withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and Nato’s eastward expansion.
US to also flex nuclear muscle
US President Trump — ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea — announced that the United States would resume nuclear weapons testing after a 33-year pause.
“Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He added, “Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years.”
The US last conducted a nuclear test in 1992, but Trump’s directive signals a dramatic escalation in the global nuclear posture amid rising competition among major powers.
Experts say resuming tests could provide technical data on ageing weapons — but also risks triggering a new arms race.
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