Military experts are sounding the alarm after the Russian Navy took delivery of what is the world’s longest-known submarine “The Belgorod,” warning that the new vessel is a platform for espionage and nuclear weapons.
According to CNN, the Belgorod was turned over to the Russian Navy earlier this month in the port of Severodvinsk and military experts say “its design is a modified version of Russia’s Oscar II class guided-missile submarines, made longer with the aim to eventually accommodate the world’s first nuclear-armed stealth torpedoes and equipment for intelligence gathering.”
Experts say the massive sub, measuring more than 184 meters (608 feet), could in the next decade set the stage for a return to scenes of the Cold War under the ocean, with US and Russian subs tracking and hunting each other in tense face-offs.
“What sets the Belgorod apart from any of the nuclear submarines operated anywhere in the world is its mission. TASS has reported that the sub will carry the in-development Poseidon nuclear-capable torpedoes, which are being designed to be launched from hundreds of miles away and to sneak past coastal defenses by traveling along the sea floor,” experts said, according to CNN.
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“This nuclear ‘mega torpedo’ is unique in the history of the world,” American submarine expert H. I. Sutton said. “Poseidon is a completely new category of weapon. It will reshape naval planning in both Russia and the West, leading to new requirements and new counter-weapons,” he added.
“Both US and Russian officials have said the torpedoes could deliver warheads of multiple megatons, causing radioactive waves that would render swathes of the target coastline uninhabitable for decades,” CNN reported.
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