COULD IT BE… SATAN 2? Russia to test new missile ‘that can beat any defences.’

The RS-28 is destined to replace R-36, nicknamed SS-18 Satan by Nato.

Weighing 100 tonnes and with a range of about 6,200 miles, the Sarmat will carry up to 16 warheads and, according to Moscow, will be capable of beating any missile defence system.

It could carry a payload capable of destroying an area “the size of Texas or France”, according to Zvezda, the defence ministry’s television channel.

First tests of the Sarmat were planned for last year but had to be put back. They were delayed again in March because the launch silo was not ready, and then in April because of a missile fault.

Whatever Russia’s financial and production problems are, the most recent US land-based ICBM, the Minuteman III, ended its production run in 1978.