>>19074452
>Nuclear-Powered Nuclear-Armed Autonomous Torpedo
New technologies always create questions about capabilities, tactical employment, and countermeasures, but rarely has one created so many simultaneously as has Russia’s Kanyon nuclear torpedo (also called Poseidon or Status-6). While the Soviet Union maintained a nuclear arsenal that included torpedoes carrying nuclear warheads (as did the United States for a time), the Russian Navy has spent years developing a new conceptual approach to these devices. By pairing nuclear warheads with emerging automation, Russia is moving swiftly toward creating an autonomous nuclear deterrent and turning longstanding views of submarine-based nuclear weapons on their heads.
Caption: The Poseidon intercontinental nuclear-powered nuclear-armed autonomous torpedo:
2M39 Poseidon/Status-6 (Ctatyc-6)/Skif (CKM8) seabed launched variant. NATO reporting name: Kanyon. This graphic from analyst H. I. Sutton shows the weapon to scale next to a person (for scale), along with a developmental version, a surrogate load for testing, and a Russian Harpsichord unmanned underwater vehicle. Credit: H. I. Sutton / Covert Shores. Used by permission.
Kanyon breaks all the traditional nuclear deterrence and classification rules. It is a nuclear-powered weapon, therefore possessing theoretically unlimited range. It has the potential to be both a strategic and tactical nuclear weapon and does not fall within the weapon definitions of the New START treaty. Its current launch platform has been converted into a submarine that cannot easily be classified within standard submarine categories. And, perhaps most frightening, this nuclear weapon has the potential for autonomous operation.
Autonomous Nuclear Torpedoes Usher in a Dangerous Future
U.S. Naval Institute: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2022/may/autonomous-nuclear-torpedoes-usher-dangerous-future