Peresvet, Poseidon and Petrel: The Brand New Names for Russia’s New Strategic Weapons
Peresvet, Poseidon, and Burevestnik (Petrel) are the names of the new combat laser system, drone submarine, and nuclear-power-plant-powered cruise missile.
Varvara Nevskaya reports how people chose the names of the weapons for the first time.
The voting lasted 22 days, with over 7,500,000 Russian voters taking part. Introducing, a state-of-the-art combat laser system, a drone submarine capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear warheads, and a cruise missile that's powered by a nuclear power plant. Now, they all have names.
Yuri Borisov, the Deputy Minister of Defense of the RF: "People chose Peresvet, Poseidon, and Burevestnik. The names are very bright, they very well express the peculiarities of these weapons, and the industries they're used in. No matter what the names are, it's the people's choice, it's a done deal. As they say, 'A ship will sail the way you name it.' The people have made their choice, so the character traits of those names will reflect performance".
The names reflect the characteristics of the named systems very well. The Peresvet laser complex is named after a great Russian warrior, monk, and soldier who was declared a saint. This is where power and majesty meet. The Poseidon drone submarine is invincible, like the ancient God, and water is his home. The Burevestnik cruise missile. This bird takes on great distances easily. Also, thanks to the famous Gorky poem, Burevestnik is a symbol of protest in the name of justice.
Yuri Borisov: "These names were in the lead from the very beginning. There were a lot of exotic, unusual suggestions, but there's no point in discussing that now. The choice has been made, the birth certificates will be issued today, as I said. So I wish a happy birthday to our new systems".
From March 14th, 3 options were on the shortlist. All the finalists were side by side, and if the outcome were different, the laser would be Blik (Fleck) or Vasilisk (Basilisk), the submarine would be Aurora or Priboy (Surf), and the missile would be Palmyra or Surpriz (Surprise). Among other people's favorites were Svetlyachok (Firefly), Gorynych, Yaz (Ide), and Lesch (Bream). Some suggestions were very touching: Luntik, Lyutik (Buttercup), and Yozhik (Hedgehog). Some were aggressive — Gvozd (Nail), Rozga (Whip), Patsan (Thug), and Payalnik (Welder). Some were unusual, like Vatnik (Rag Tag), Shashlik (Kebab), and Fingal (Black Eye).
However, all this was understandable, the voters had complete freedom. In the Navy, giving names is a tradition, and they have their own system, submarines are named after great Russian dukes, gunboats are named after Russian cities, frigates and cruisers are named after sea captains, but there isn't a tradition for naming cruise missiles yet.
Aleksey Leonkov, a military expert: "When it came to strategic missiles, the so-called intercontinental ballistic missiles, they got threatening names, like Voevoda (Warchief) and Bulava (Macehead), which were the collective names of military commanders and their weapons. Some other names carried a certain internal code to confuse a potential adversary, that's why we have Topol (Poplar) ballistic missiles, as well as Yars ballistic missiles".
In Russia, the tradition to name our weapons was born in the 16th century. Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich named his combat ship Orel (Eagle). Some military equipment is named by the engineers, some are named by the people. The best example is Katyusha, the MLRS combat vehicle.
The vote, which was initiated by President Vladimir Putin on March 1st, opened on the Ministry of Defense website on the same day, 63,000 people had voted within the first 24 hours. Computer programs made calculations of repeating options, making a list with 50 names for the vote. By March 13th, there were 250,000 suggestions. Millions have voted for the suggested options, an incredible unity of the people in their desire to give the powerful weapons names chosen by people.
Ivan Konovalov, the Director of the Center for Strategic Trend Studies: "The vote was a great initiative by the Ministry of Defense, which will continue, in my opinion, because 7,500,000 people have voted, showing that the Russian military is being reformed and rearmed. A military that is battling terrorists with the full support of the Russian people, which is great".
The most favorite of the vote was the cruise missile. People have come up with 100,000 names for it, and it got the majority of the votes. To compare, each option on the shortlist for the laser system had an average of 60,000 votes, while each of the 3 options for the cruise pride of the Ministry of Defense had over 700,000 votes. This clearly portrays the trust of the Russian people in the armed forces, which is modern, scalable, and more than capable of defending the country.
Varvara Nevskaya, Leonid Aronchikov, and Anton Senchenko, Vesti.