Russia's 'secret' underwater nuclear mega bomb creates ripples throughout the world

NEW DELHI: The 'leak' of an ambitious plan by Moscow to develop an autonomous underwater vehicle armed with a nuclear warhead has taken the strategic community by storm, with some Russian experts terming it as being as significant as the arrival of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) in the late 1950s.

While the concept of a long range nuclear torpedo with inter-continental range has been around for a while, the new Russian project, known as of now only as ' Status 6’ is more akin to a roving submarine designed for a single, suicide mission to annihilate a coastal target by emerging undetected from deep underwater.

The plans for the project were `leaked’ in a Russian television report on President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with military officials earlier this week. A TV grab of `Status 6’ that contains details of the long range 'multipurpose system’ that can strike at a target 10,000 km away.

Unlike the ICBM’s that form the bulk of the Russian and even Chinese nuclear strike force as of now, Status 6 is designed to – according to the leaked document – travel undetected at depths of close to 1000 meters and at a speed three times faster than any submarine in the world.

The document identifies the designer of the new system as Russia's Rubin Design bureau based in St Petersburg that currently is tasked for conventional underwater systems as well as strategic submarines. The purpose of the new system, according to the Russian document, is the annihilation of the enemy’s economic facilities in coastal region and 'unacceptable damage' to the country.

There is much speculation in the western media however on whether the plans for the Status 6 project were deliberately leaked by Russia to warn its enemies or was an inadvertent mistake. Moscow’s almost immediate public reprimand of the Russian Television for broadcasting `secret information’ has raised suspicions of a targeted leak.

However, irrespective of the manner in which the information came out, Status 6 could be the next level of strategic deterrence for Russia that has of late embarked on an ambitious plan to revive its armed forces. A nuclear bomb roaming the depths of the oceans remotely would be a scary scenario for any nation to deal with. While in the past most nations have innovated on missile defence systems and early warning devices for missiles and aircraft, it is much harder to detect, track and neutralize targets underwater.

“More details are needed but this thing appears to incorporate huge achievements in at least four very different areas of science and technology. The advent of this thing is comparable to the advent of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the late 1950s,” a Russian expert who did not wish to be identified told ET. Information coming to Russia indicates that the project is in a fairly advanced stage and successful tests have already been carried out.