Russia’s nuclear arsenal is more confusing but sources seem to all agree that their biggest weapons in active use are in the 745 kT to 1.2 MT range. Some examples are the R-39 which apparently currently uses 750 kT warheads or the [Topol M] with a 1 MT warhead.
A lot of ICBM’s are capable of launching >10 MT warheads, but my understanding is that the US and Russia don’t actually use such large warheads because it’s more useful to launch 6-10 much smaller warheads instead.
That’s interesting. My sense is the Sarmat sure was built with the goal of launching massive nuclear warheads, so I would be surprised if Russia isn’t going to load it with an appropriate warhead.
Why are you planning for an experimental 50 MT weapon when the biggest one in Russia’s actual arsenal is 1 MT (and most are smaller)?
Because in the ~5 mins I spent googling, I couldn’t find any reliable source of info on this question, so I just picked the most conservative option.
Interested in any knowledge you have on this. Why do you believe what you believe?
It had read something previously about how huge nuclear weapons aren’t very useful so non-test weapons tend to be MT or less range.
Wikipedia says the highest yield weapon in the US arsenal is the B83 bomb at 1.2 MT.
Russia’s nuclear arsenal is more confusing but sources seem to all agree that their biggest weapons in active use are in the 745 kT to 1.2 MT range. Some examples are the R-39 which apparently currently uses 750 kT warheads or the [Topol M] with a 1 MT warhead.
I don’t know what the current state of the RS-28 Sarmat is, but it’s listed in various random news articles at being capable of launching 50 megaton warheads and was scheduled to become ready in 2022 (I don’t know the current state).
A lot of ICBM’s are capable of launching >10 MT warheads, but my understanding is that the US and Russia don’t actually use such large warheads because it’s more useful to launch 6-10 much smaller warheads instead.
That’s interesting. My sense is the Sarmat sure was built with the goal of launching massive nuclear warheads, so I would be surprised if Russia isn’t going to load it with an appropriate warhead.