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Most of the time, when we talk about drones and drone warfare, we're talking near aircraft. A leaked draft of the 2022 Nuclear Report prepared by the Pentagon suggests this construction is too narrow — and information technology confirms reports from several years ago that suggested Russia was working on its own autonomous underwater torpedo with the ability to deliver a 100-megaton nuclear blast.

The Russian system, codenamed Kanyon by the Pentagon and apparently known as Ocean Multipurpose System Status-6 to the Russians, isn't referred to past either proper name in the nuclear study. While the leaked draft contains a map of new nuclear solutions developed by various countries, including Russia, the resolution on the image is pretty low. The discussion "status-6" is suggested by the below image (bank check the expanse highlighted in ruddy), but it's scarcely clear.

The beingness of Kanyon dates back to an adventitious (or "accidental") reveal on Russian TV. The automated drone-torpedo is an estimated 80 anxiety long, with a 5.5-foot draft. It's roughly 27 times the book of a conventional heavyweight torpedo and twice the size of a ballistic missile. It's been reported as using a modest nuclear reactor to bulldoze the torpedo, with a running depth of 1,000 meters and a potential maximum range of 10,000 km. If the device is nuclear-powered, this final is credible. According to sources, it could carry a warhead as powerful every bit 100 megatons, with a top speed of 56 knots.

Status-6

Some of these numbers may reflect hoped-for targets or final estimates, not real-world tested values. But the prospect of even a scaled-down version of this device hit a United states of america target is genuinely frightening, and the Pentagon report confirms that the device exist. The Pentagon writes:

In addition to modernizing 'legacy' Soviet systems, Russia is developing and deploying new nuclear warheads and launchers. These efforts include multiple upgrades for every leg of the Russian nuclear triad of strategic bombers, ocean-based missiles, and state-based missiles. Russia is also developing at to the lowest degree two new intercontinental range systems, a hypersonic glide vehicle, and a new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, undersea democratic torpedo.

A 100-megaton weapon would be extremely powerful. The nigh powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba, weighed 60,000 tons. It had a yield of 51 megatons with a shockwave so powerful, the bomb'south fireball never touched the ground (the fireball itself was visible 620 miles away). A scaled-upward version of the bomb could've reached the 100-megaton yield bulwark, making a warhead of this size plausible.

Status6

The leaked paradigm from 2022 that made Status-6 known to the globe.

This type of weapon, however, is more often than not viewed every bit a deterrence model, non the kind of weapon you employ in a first strike. The model was supposedly developed as a issue of the United states of america' interest in missile defense systems, which left the Russians looking for a style to build a missile that wouldn't exist vulnerable to such interference. Residuum assured, slamming such a torpedo into the coast of the The states nigh a major populated area would still create 1 hell of an explosion, fifty-fifty if the bodily detonation occurred off-shore.

The Pentagon written report notes the Russians plan attacks from the erroneous position that a coercive nuclear "first utilise" policy might allow Russia to then negotiate terms favorable to itself (this is referred to as the escalate-to-de-escalate doctrine). The Pentagon writes:

Effective U.S. deterrence of Russian nuclear assail and non-nuclear strategic set on now requires ensuring that the Russian leadership does not miscalculate regarding the consequence of limited nuclear outset use, either regionally or against the Us itself. Russian federation must instead understand that nuclear get-go-use, however limited, will neglect to accomplish its objectives, fundamentally alter the nature of a disharmonize, and trigger incalculable and intolerable costs for Moscow. Our strategy will ensure Russia understands that any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is unacceptable.

If there's whatsoever good news to the situation, it'due south this: The Pentagon doesn't seem overly concerned virtually Kanyon as a whole, despite its loftier-profile status and massive kill potential. Information technology's clearly a significant threat capable of killing millions of people, merely it's non a world-shaking development. Information technology's estimated a Sarov-class submarine (pictured, top) is the but Russian sub currently believed to be capable of launching Kanyon.

General Tone: Non Particularly Positive

The report is generally pessimistic virtually the electric current state of nuclear armaments around the world. The U.s.a. has reduced its warhead count past 85 pct from its Common cold War height. That said, strict references to warhead counts aren't particularly useful without corresponding data on yields, commitment methods, and accuracy. The gap in total operational adequacy between and then and now is less reduced, and conventional thinking suggests you lot only need to be able to nuke the planet's population centers so many times before you're engaging in overkill.

Even so, the Pentagon study notes America'due south efforts to convince other nations to reduce their ain armaments or avoid building new ones has been unsuccessful. It isn't very optimistic that virtually-term efforts to reduce the number of nuclear weapons deployed in states like North Korea will be successful, either.

Now read: How do nuclear bombs work?