strategic nuclear weapon

Russia said in January that it had produced the first set of the Poseidon torpedoes, four years after President Vladimir Putin announced the fundamentally new type of strategic nuclear weapon, confirming it would have its own nuclear power supply.

President Vladimir Putin first announced what would become known as Poseidon in 2018, saying it was a fundamentally new type of strategic nuclear weapon with its own nuclear power source.

Since it was almost impossible for either side to distinguish between different types of warheads on cruise missiles, Brown was ultimately swayed by the argument that the Soviets might some day arm Backfires with long-range nuclear-armed cruise missiles disguised as conventional ones and thus have a strategic nuclear weapon uncounted by SALT.

For their part, the Soviets are worried by the low-flying U.S. cruise missile, whose versatility enables it to be used as both a tactical and a strategic nuclear weapon.