Poseidon

Russia’s nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed autonomous intercontinental torpedo — a second-strike weapon designed to approach coastal targets deep beneath missile defenses, now slowly materializing after a decade of staged leaks, test-launch claims and visible carrier-submarine construction.

Overview

Poseidon (2M39, NATO reporting name “Kanyon”) is a strategic, nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed unmanned underwater vehicle originally known under the Russian codename “Status-6.” Developed by the Rubin Central Design Bureau, it is best understood as an intercontinental torpedo: a one-way autonomous vehicle that cruises for days or weeks at depth to deliver a multi-megaton warhead against ports, naval bases and coastal cities. The entire concept is built around exploiting a gap in missile-defense architecture — an incoming warhead approaching underwater is not intercepted by the ballistic-missile-defense systems that Russia’s leadership has spent two decades railing against. No operator has yet fielded the weapon, and performance rests almost entirely on Russian state assertions, but the physical infrastructure to support it is real and growing: the giant special-purpose submarines Belgorod (delivered 2022) and Khabarovsk (launched 2025) carry six tubes each, and a multi-vehicle force is planned.

Development

The program entered public consciousness on 10 November 2015, when a Russian state-television camera crew appeared to “accidentally” film a briefing slide on the oceanic multipurpose system Status-6 — an exposure the CIA assessed as intentional. Vladimir Putin formally unveiled Poseidon on 1 March 2018 as one of six new strategic “super weapons” justified by the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The visible hardware trail, however, stretches back much further. Covert Shores’ OSINT timeline documents the rebuilt test sub B-90 Sarov (bow lengthened 2008–09), dummy test rounds and lifting frames at Severodvinsk from 2010, and purpose-built support ships Zvezdochka and Akademik Aleksandrov.Covert Shores Poseidon The first confirmed test launch occurred on 27 November 2016 from Sarov in the Arctic, according to a Pentagon account cited by Wikipedia. Carrier construction followed: Belgorod (Project 09852, a stretched Oscar-II, ~184 m, six tubes) was delivered in July 2022, and Khabarovsk (Project 09851, ~135–136 m, Borei-A-derived stern and pump-jet, six bow tubes) was laid down in July 2014 and launched on 1 November 2025.Naval News

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