The Russian army announced on Wednesday the successful test of a gigantic intercontinental missile. The RS-28 Sarmat can travel 10,000 km and destroy a territory the size of France. The announcement of the test firing of the Sarmat sends shivers down the spine, especially since Vladimir Putin’s message is clear. According to the Russian president, this intercontinental nuclear missile is intended to make the enemies of Russia “think” The firing was carried out from the launch pad in Plesetsk, in the Arkhangelsk region, in the northwest of Russia. The missile reportedly hit a target on the Kura military field in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, more than 5,000 kilometers from the launch area.It is a fifth-grade intercontinental ballistic missile generation. Weighing over 200 tons, it is more capable than its predecessor and “has practically no limits in terms of range”, according to Vladimir Putin, who judged it able to “aim at targets while crossing the pole North like the South Pole”.• RS-28 Sarmat, what is it?The RS-28 Sarmat is a colossus that Russia has been developing since 2009. Weighing 200 tons, it can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads, enough to raze a country as big as France or an American state as Texas. Its power would be 100 to 200 times that of the atomic bomb which struck Hiroshima. This potential is all the more credible as it can reach targets more than 10,000 kilometers away. Some experts say that its range would even be 18,000 km, enough to hit any target on the planet with submunitions capable of targeting several targets simultaneously. According to Russia, its autonomy would allow it to use trajectories passing through the North and South Poles to strike by surprise anywhere on the planet. But above all, it would be equipped with technology capable of “thwarting all modern anti-aircraft systems”.• Sarmat, Satan 2, why these names?This missile was named Sarmat in reference to an ancient people whose territory, Sarmatia, partly bordered the Black Sea and extended over the territories of Ukraine and southern Russia. The etymology of this name would come from “Sauromate” itself from the Greek “sauros”, a lizard covered with a armor made of scales. According to legend, the Sauromates, ancestors of the Sarmatians, would be the children of Amazons who mated with Scythians. The nickname Satan 2 was given by Westerners. It expresses the destructive power of the thermonuclear missile, but also the succession of the SS-18 missile nicknamed Satan. Developed in the 1960s and manufactured in the Luzhmash arms factory, a former flagship of the Soviet military-industrial complex located in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine. In 2017, this factory was accused of supplying North Korea with missile engines. The Ukrainian government has always denied and accused Russia of disseminating this information to undermine kyiv’s relations with the West. • Is Putin threatening the West? Sarmat’s test announcement is part of the deterrence strategy of Russia. Moreover, Vladimir Putin’s comments leave no doubt. “It is a unique weapon that will strengthen the military potential of our armed forces, which will ensure Russia’s security in the face of external threats and which will make those who are trying to threaten our country with raging and aggressive rhetoric,” the Russian president said, but for the Pentagon, this shooting is in no way a threat to the United States or its allies. For this “routine” test, Moscow would have “properly informed” Washington beforehand, in accordance with its obligations under the nuclear treaties. For John Kirby, spokesman for the US Department of Defense, it was therefore not a “surprise”. Indeed, last year, the Tass agency indicated that the Sarmat program was underway and that five tests were scheduled for 2022. Wednesday’s would therefore be the first in the series. • Invincible, hypersonic and invisible, the new Russian arsenal? The Sarmat is not Russia’s only new generation weapon. For more than a decade, Moscow has been developing a new generation arsenal made up of missiles described as invincible. altitude at very high speeds, making them “virtually invincible”. Successfully tested in December 2018, their speed then reached Mach 27, or 27 times the speed of sound. They managed to hit a target located about 6000 km away. They were put into service in December 2019.• Kinjal, hypersonic “dagger”Used for the first time on Friday by the Russian army, the Kinjal (“dagger” in Russian) hypersonic missiles allowed, according to Moscow, the destruction of an underground warehouse arms in western Ukraine. This type of missiles, very maneuverable, is supposed to challenge anti-aircraft defense systems. During the tests, they hit all their targets at a distance of up to 1000-2000 km. They equip the MiG-31 war planes. • Peresvet, combat laserThe technical characteristics of the Peresvet combat laser systems (named after a 14th century warrior monk) are secret. They have been ready for combat since December 2019, according to the Ministry of Defense. • Poseidon, underwater droneThe Poseidon, underwater drone developed for Russian nuclear deterrence, will be able to move more than a kilometer deep, at a speed of 60 to 70 knots, while remaining invisible to detection systems. Tests of the Poseidon system took place in 2020. It will eventually equip the nuclear submarine Belgorod, a ship which was launched in 2019 but whose commissioning has been postponed until the summer of 2022.• Bourevestnik , the storm bird Of “unlimited range”, still according to Vladimir Putin, the Bourevestnik would be able to overcome almost all interception systems. This cruise missile whose name comes from a sea bird whose Russian etymology is the word “storm”).• Zircon, “invisible” marine missileThe first official launch of the Zircon hypersonic missile (from the name used in jewelry) dates from October 2020. It flies at Mach 9 to reach sea and land targets. At the end of December 2021, Vladimir Putin announced a first successful test firing of a Zircon salvo. Other tests have taken place since October 2020 in the Russian Arctic, in particular from the Admiral Gorchkov frigate and a submerged submarine.