The tests that the Izvestia article referenced are likely in-port mating and mechanical checks between the submarine and the weapon, which matches the satellite imagery showing the outer shutters open. It’s unclear if the submarine has ever conducted submergence testing, and just today the TASS Russian news agency reported the submarine is preparing to sail to sea for the first time. This could allow regular torpedo tubes to be mounted in the bow, shooting over top of the sonar.Īlthough some reporting on the Poseidon implies Belgorod will be conducting test launches imminently, this is unlikely. One takeaway from the images is Belgorod probably has a forward hull between the two open shutter doors.

Being so large and nuclear powered, these are likely carried externally to the main pressure hull, so it is unclear whether all six tubes will have their own shutter doors or if they will be able to cycle through the two shutters seen in the satellite images. Previous reports indicate that Belgorod will be armed with six Poseidons. The weapon is designed to “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,” according to a 2015 translation of the initial document by the BBC. Revealed in 2015, the school-bus sized torpedo is a strategic weapon that is designed to slip under the U.S. This is because the Poseidon weapon is about 20 to 30 times the size of a traditional heavyweight torpedo. Each opening is roughly six feet (two meters) across, approximately three times the diameter of the openings for regular 21-inch (533mm) torpedoes. The satellite imagery clearly shows two large openings in the bow. It is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s so-called wonder weapons, together with hypersonic missiles and a nuclear-powered cruise missile. These tubes are not for ordinary torpedoes but rather the Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed torpedo. Moored next to the quay is Belgorod with its torpedo tube doors appearing to be open. 10, an Airbus satellite took a high-resolution image of the harbor. Though the long Arctic nights and thick clouds have limited access to new imagery for many months, now as the Arctic winter is waning, commercial imagery satellites are once again more active over Severodvinsk.

In the absence of official photographs, commercial satellite imagery has become a primary source of information. The Izvestia article’s timing matches fresh satellite imagery of the submarine in the northern Russian submarine base in Severodvinsk, which may show part of the tests. 11 that Belgorod is being prepared for tests with the new weapon called Poseidon, a massive nuclear torpedo which is shot forward out of the front of the submarine. Russian state media Izvestia reported on Feb. While navies traditionally hide the screw, or propeller, from the cameras, in Belgorod’s case the reverse was true: the screws were on display at the 2019 launch ceremony, but no photographs of the forward section were ever published.īelgorod’s secret is its arrangement of the primary weapon system: a new class of nuclear-tipped torpedos. While its existence is far from secret, Moscow has gone to great pains to keep certain key details out of the public domain. Russia’s latest super-sized submarine, Belgorod, has been a conundrum for interested observers.

Yeah duck that time sink