Weapons

Russia Wants the Strangest of All Weapons: An 'Underwater ICBM'

Moscow claims to be developing a nuclear super-torpedo that can radioactively contaminate economic targets on enemy coasts, which presumably includes fishing grounds. The weapon was revealed last month when Russian state TV "accidentally" broadcast a shot of a document being read by a military commander during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The Status-6 torpedo is designed to create "wide areas of radioactive contamination," according to the BBC translation. The submarine-launched weapon can "destroy important economic installations of the enemy in coastal areas and cause guaranteed devastating damage to the country's territory by creating wide areas of radioactive contamination, rendering them unusable for military, economic or other activity for a long time." ​

But that's not all. The "leaked" document describes a torpedo with a range of 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) and a depth of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). They will be launched from Russia's newest “Belgorod” and “Khabarovsk” nuclear missile sub projects.