On Tuesday, May 12, 2026, the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), Gen. Sergei Karakayev, reported to President Vladimir Putin on the successful test of the RS-28 Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, GRAU index 15A28 and DIA/NATO reporting name SS-X-30 Satan 2. It was the second successful test of Russia’s most powerful missile out of at least five attempts.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
According to Russian sources, the missile was launched at 11:15 Moscow time from the Plesetsk State Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast, while the training warheads hit designated targets at the Kura Missile Test Range in Kamchatka.
At the same time, President Vladimir Putin once again stated that the weapon system would enter full combat service by the end of the year, as it had entered trial operational service under an order dated September 1, 2023. The commander of the RVSN, Gen. Sergei Karakayev, confirmed that the test results would allow the first missile regiment equipped with Sarmat systems to enter combat service by the end of 2026 at the Uzhur-4 missile base in Krasnoyarsk Krai, where the 62nd Missile Division, military unit 32441, is currently stationed.
The next location will be the Dombarovsky missile base, in the closed town of ZATO Komarovsky, subordinated to the 13th Missile Division, military unit 68545, in Orenburg Oblast.
On August 16, 2022, approximately 50 missiles were likely ordered to replace 46 R-36M2 Voevoda missiles, GRAU index 15A18 and DIA/NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan.
According to the Russian president, the missile is capable of flying not only on a ballistic trajectory, but also on a suborbital one, providing a range of more than 35,000 km, while the total yield of the delivered warhead package is more than four times greater than that of any existing most powerful Western counterpart.
It is worth adding that as early as December 24, 2019, the Russians reported that Sarmat would be capable of performing a suborbital flight over a distance of up to 35,000 km, which may indicate a return to the concept of the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS), or in Russian, Sistema Chastichno-Orbitalnogo Bombometaniya (SChOB). This means that the missile’s final stage with warheads could orbit at an altitude above 100 km, above the Kármán line, before re-entering the atmosphere, significantly extending its operational range. This method was developed by the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War and, more recently, by China.
It should be recalled that the first successful test took place on April 20, 2022, while tests on February 18, 2023, and September 21, 2024, ended in failure, all from the Plesetsk State Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast. It was initially believed that the failed test on November 28, 2025, also involved Sarmat, but it was probably a UR-100NUTTH, although the Russians did not openly admit this.
The RS-28 has been developed under the OKR Sarmat program since 2009, but was unveiled on March 1, 2018, while the first main-engine firing test took place on December 27, 2017. The lead designer is the Academician V. P. Makeyev State Rocket Center in Miass, Chelyabinsk Oblast, with subcontractors including KrasMash of Krasnoyarsk, ZlatMash of Zlatoust, JSC NPO Energomash named after V. P. Glushko, JSC NPO Mashinostroyeniya of Reutov, and KB Khimavtomatika of Voronezh.
The missile is 35.5 m long, 3 m in diameter, and has a launch weight of 208.1 t. It is a three-stage missile: the first stage is powered by PDU-99 rocket engines, a variant of the RD-274, using liquid propellant. Its maximum range on a ballistic trajectory is estimated by the Russians at 18,000 km, and the missile is said to be capable of carrying 10-15 thermonuclear warheads, either heavy 750 kT warheads or lighter ones, or an unspecified number of new Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles. The missile’s payload is said to be 10 t. The guidance system consists of inertial navigation, GLONASS satellite navigation, and astronavigation.
According to various sources, the RS-28 launch silos at the Uzhur-4 and Dombarovsky missile bases are to be equipped with the Mozyr kinetic active protection system, intended to protect them against a preemptive nuclear strike at altitudes of up to 6 km.
Video: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation via Rutube
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