Russia is building a nuclear submarine drone that has the capacity to launch nuclear weapons against important U.S. harbors and coastal cities, Pentagon Officials revealed.
When deployed, the unmanned underwater vehicle, or UUV, would be equipped with megaton-class warheads capable of obliterating ports used by U.S. nuclear missile submarines, such as Kings Bay, Georgia, and Puget Sound in Washington State.
"This is an unmanned sub that will have a high-speed and long-distance capability," a Pentagon official told The Washington Free Beacon.
Officials do admit however, that the weapon is still in it's development stage and Russia is years away from finishing and testing a prototype.
The drone has been codenamed "Kanyon" by officials, an indication that the weapon is a structured Russian arms program, reported the Washington Times. Beyond that, details about the program has been tightly held by the U.S. government.
"The Kanyon represents another example of Russia's aggressive and innovative approach to the development of military capabilities against U.S. and Western interests," Jack Caravelli, a former CIA analyst who specialized in Soviet and Russian affairs, said in the report, according to Newsmax.
"The possible yield of the warhead, in the megaton class, clearly is an attempt to inflict catastrophic damage against U.S. or European naval facilities or coastal cities," he said. "Nations vote with their resources, and the Kanyon, along with an expanding number of other military modernization programs, indicates the priority [President] Vladimir Putin places on military preparedness against the West."
This report comes a few weeks after a report about Russia's new missile, the SSN-30A, was made public. It's possible that those long-range missiles will be utilized in conjunction with this UUV.
