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Russian efforts to test a one-of-a-kind nuclear-powered torpedo prototype may have hit a roadblock, a US official told CNN on Thursday.
Unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, the self-propelled torpedo, or unmanned underwater vehicle, reportedly has unlimited range and the ability to carry a nuclear warhead up to 125 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to Popular Engineering.
“Unmanned underwater vehicles can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads, which allows them to engage various targets, including aircraft groups, coastal fortifications and infrastructure,” Putin said at the time, claiming it was invulnerable to countermeasures. “There is nothing in the world that can withstand them.”
All types of torpedoes are virtually unstoppable. But they are limited by the range and speed challenges of moving a heavy object through water, which is much higher friction than air. Russia’s claims of using nuclear power to propel Neptune will potentially solve this in an unprecedented way — if it actually works. There is no sign yet that it does, however, and a US official told CNN that it appears Russia is struggling to even try to see if it does.
In 2019, Russia’s defense ministry released a video showing an underwater test of the system, which some have labeled a “disaster” device due to its massive potential payload and its theoretical ability to create a radioactive tsunami that could sweep the coastal cities.
Indeed, Russia’s efforts to build a similar, nuclear-powered missile have so far failed and resulted in an explosion in August 2019 that killed at least five Russian engineers.
The latest apparent attempt to test the torpedo comes at a time of heightened concern about nuclear weapons, with Russia’s president having threatened their use in a bid to rattle Western support for Ukraine.
According to CNN, however, the effort to test the torpedo in open water may have encountered technical difficulties, with the submarines capable of carrying it returning to port – which a Western diplomat attributed to the Russian military “having a hard time” thanks to pressure of sanctions and the war in Ukraine.
Some are skeptical that the Poseidon torpedo will ever work, believing it impossible to reliably fit an active nuclear reactor on something the size of a cruise missile. No country has yet successfully developed such a weapon.
Cheryl Rofer, a former nuclear scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has suggested that Neptune is a “truth,” possibly intended to prompt the US to try to develop a similar (and expensive) system of its own.
“The military should seriously consider the possibility of these weapons, but it’s clear they’re a long way from working,” he wrote in 2021. “And I’m willing to bet they never will.”
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