What are Russia’s Satan 2 nuclear missiles and could the RS-28 Sarmat warheads reach the UK?
Vladimir Putin's new nuclear missiles are rumoured to be able to destroy England and Wales twice over
RUSSIA'S new nuclear missile the "Satan 2" which could "wipe out France and Texas" is ready for it's first test flight, according to Moscow.
The deadly warhead can travel more than 6,000 miles, according to Russian news agencies. Here is what we know about the weapon.
What is Russia's Satan 2 nuclear missile?
Russia's so-called Satan 2 is widely tipped as being the most powerful and deadly atomic warhead on the planet.
It carries bombs 1,000 more powerful than those dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War Two.
The missile can reportedly carry up to 16 separate bombs which allow it to drop multiple nukes on an area in a single strike.
It is also said the Satan 2 will have a range of 6,835 miles.
Officially named the RS-28 Sarmat, the 100 ton nuclear weapon will replace Putin's Soviet era Satan missiles.
It has been developed by Russian missile production company the Makeyev Design Bureau.
Images of the Satan 2 have emerged amid news Russia is developing a hypersonic PAK-DA jet which could drop nuclear warheads from space.
It has also been rumoured that the nuclear missile will be equipped with stealth technology to so it can dodge enemy radar systems.
What level of death and destruction could be caused by Satan 2?
Military expert Dr Paul Craig Roberts sensationally claimed that the "five or six" of the Russian missiles could wipe out the entire US east coast.
The Russian news outlet Sputnik reported in May that an RS-28 rocket is "capable of wiping out parts of the Earth the size of France or Texas".
On that basis it has been reported that the weapon could "wipe out an area the size of England and Wales twice over".
It is unconfirmed where exactly the Satan 2s will be kept but they could easily reach the UK if fired from the east coast of Russia.
With it's ability to travel thousands of miles it seems the Russians will have no problem finding somewhere to successfully strike Britain from with a Satan 2.
Dr Roberts wrote in Global Research: "The atomic bombs that Washington dropped on these helpless civilian centres while the Japanese government was trying to surrender, were mere popguns compared to today's thermo-nuclear weapons
“One Russian SS-18 wipes out three-fourths of New York state for thousands of years.
"Five or six of these “Satans” as they are known by the US military, and the East Coast of the United States disappears.”
The US attack on Hiroshima in World War Two killed between 90,000 and 146,000 within the first two months of the bombings.
The atomic attack on Nagasaki caused between 39,000 and 80,000 deaths.
A Satan 2 missile allegedly carries bombs 1,000 times more powerful than those dropped on Japan.
Where did the name Satan 2 come from?
The RS-28 Sarmat is due to replace Soviet R-36M missiles which Nato experts nicknamed "Satan".
The R-36M was viewed by US analysts as giving the Soviet Union first strike advantage over the US.
"Satan 2" is the name given to its more deadly replacement.
When it will be ready for action?
In February 2014 a Russian military official said the RS-28 Sarmat would be ready for use in 2020.
In May that year it was reported that the production process had been accelerated and that the missiles would make up 100 per cent of Russia's fixed land-based nuclear arsenal by 2021.
The Satan 2 was successfully tested in August last year and the first images were released this month.
Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau announced the missile will be ready for launch in two year's time.
But it was announced this month that the rockets could be ready for their first test launch.
Are Russia and Vladimir Putin really that dangerous?
Much has been made of Russia's strongman leader Vladimir Putin and how his willingness to engage in wars in Georgia, the Ukraine and Syria could spark World War Three.
However some experts believe it is Putin's weaknesses and desperation that make him so prone to exerting Russia's strength through military action.
Last week award-winning author Arkady Ostrovsky claimed Putin knows he cannot afford a conventional war with NATO alliance members.
He wrote: "(Russia) is once again using the threat of nuclear arms to blackmail the West."
In the same report for the magazine he claimed Putin has weakened Russia by attempting to return it to a Soviet-era state.
Mr Ostrovsky added: "Mr Putin sees Russia's wars as a form of self-defence, driven by the need to deter the West.
"Russia's military-industrial complex is unable to produce anything close to Soviet volumes of hardware.
"But the country's relative economic and military weakness compared with NATO does not make the country any safer; on the contrary, it poses a big risk.
"The only way Russia can compensate for the gaps in its conventional forces is to invoke the threat of a nuclear strike."
