Vladimir Putin has reportedly faced another failure in testing his most powerful missile, the Satan-2, according to experts. Russia had issued notices for an expected Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) test launch between Wednesday and Monday local time, but no test occurred.
Two US RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft, designed to track ballistic missile tests, were active on patrols from Alaska in recent days. The nuclear-capable missile was intended to hit a target at the Kura test site on the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia.
It appeared Putin aimed to demonstrate strength to the West with his apocalypse 208-ton intercontinental silo-launched 15,880mph rocket, as tall as a 14-storey tower block. Yet, after the expiry of a NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions), there was no sign of a test.
Multiple OSINT experts surmised that the scheduled test involved the jinxed RS-28 Sarmat, the world's largest missile. Ukrainian analyst Ivan Yakovina commented on Tuesday: 'I conclude that the Sarmat once again failed to launch - for the third time in a row - and [the Russians] decided not to report the tests at all.'
He added: 'If the launch had gone according to plan, the propaganda TV channels would have burst with swagger and pathos: "We will wipe our enemies into nuclear ash"... But nothing of the sort happened.'
The RS-28 Sarmat has only had one successful mission - in April 2022 - and is years behind schedule. Putin stated in April 2022: 'This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia's security from external threats, and make those who try to threaten our country with aggressive rhetoric think twice.' Two months later, he boasted: 'We have successfully tested the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile. It is the most powerful missile with the longest range of destruction of targets in the world. This truly unique weapon will significantly strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces.'
However, Putin's repeated vow that Sarmat 'will soon appear on duty' has proved false. In September 2024, the monster hypersonic missile exploded on the launchpad at Plesetsk cosmodrome, leaving a 200ft wide crater. Satellite images showed the destruction from the blast at the Plesetsk test site in northern Russia, which partially wrecked an observation building close to the launch site. Fires raged for six to twelve hours after the catastrophic incident, according to NASA FIRMS, and several fire trucks were seen at the blitzed site. Putin-controlled Russian state media was censored from reporting the explosion or its cause.
A test launch in November 2025 near Yasny, Orenburg region, when a rocket flipped soon after takeoff and crashed triggering a giant explosion, was reported as being a Sarmat, despite no official confirmation.
The dictator has fired two Russian space agency chiefs who falsely claimed Satan-2 was ready for deployment as a replacement for the R-36M2 Voevoda. Yury Borisov, 68, an ex-deputy premier, was summarily dismissed last February as head of Roscosmos. The head of the defence plant manufacturing Sarmat was detained last month. Alexander Gavrilov, 55, is held in Siberia on mysterious 'embezzlement' charges, according to Russian state media.
The rocket is designed to strike the West after flying over the North or South poles. The Sarmat-Satan-2 complex is due to replace the Voevoda missile, which has been in service since the 1980s. Earlier this year, a hardline Russian MP warned that it is 'inevitable' Russia will strike Britain to wipe it off the earth. Andrey Gurulev, a reservist general and pro-Putin MP, insisted that the Kremlin would avenge the Ukrainian use of British Storm Shadow missiles against his country. He told Kremlin-controlled state television: 'There's still going to come a point where we're going to strike. It is inevitable.' TV propagandists previously threatened to use the Satan-2 missile to carry this out.
