Russian nuclear engineers have created a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons for air defense systems.

This is stated in the publication of the Russian magazine Atom. The magazine belongs to the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics in Sarov.

“The development of combat equipment for three tactical nuclear weapons complexes and an air defense system has been completed,” reads the article on the history of КB-2, the largest research and development unit of the Russian federal nuclear center in Sarov.

The article was published in 2016, but became publicly known just recently.

Details of the weapon development in the text are not reported. Presumably, the nuclear munition is intended for air defense systems like the S-400 or Buk-M3.

The peculiarity of the nuclear ammunition for the Buk SAM is its functionality.

In addition to targets in the air, this system can also affect targets in the sea and on the ground.

Development of the 9K317M Buk-M3 system has been actively carried out since 2007. The Buk-M3 system was used as a basic model by developers, who added to it new electronic components.

In 2016, the first divisions of the Buk-М3 air defense system entered the ground forces of the Russian Armed Forces.

According to open sources, the Russian missile defense system А-135 Amur is also equipped with nuclear warheads.

The system has a 51Т6 Azov long-range interception missile with a special nuclear warhead.

On August 8, 2022, Russia notified the United States that it was temporarily abandoning inspections of its nuclear weapons under the bilateral Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Nuclear Weapons.