A New Kraken Arises? Russians Eager to Name Doomsday Arms

MOSCOW (AP) — In just one day, the suggestions have been pouring in: “Kraken” for a new underwater drone capable of blasting coastlines with a powerful nuclear explosion. “Balalaika” for a futuristic nuclear-powered cruise missile capable of circling the globe.

Russians are showering the Defense Ministry with proposed names for the country’s new nuclear weapons, relishing the online contest announced by President Vladimir Putin in his state-of-the-nation address Thursday.

Many of the entries Friday reflected the wry dark humor Russians are known for.

Someone suggested calling the missile “Sanction,” an apparent reference to Western economic sanctions against Russia for its support of separatists in Ukraine.

Another proposed calling it “Thaw,” adding in a note of sarcasm that it would finally help warm the ties between Russia and the U.S.

The kraken — a fictional gigantic Arctic sea monster that was made popular by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series — seemed to reflect the nature of the nuclear-powered drone intended to sneak close to the shore unnoticed and slam a heavy nuclear warhead into the coast.

And naming the stealth atomic-powered cruise missile after a Russian folk musical instrument tapped into a long Russian tradition of giving innocuous names to some of the deadliest weapons.

There were quite a few four-letter entries as well. Many others were driven by patriotic feelings, suggesting that the weapons be named after legendary Russian warriors or Putin himself.

The regional leader of the province of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, proposed calling the nuclear-powered cruise missile “Palmyra,” after the historic heritage site in Syria that was taken back from the Islamic State group under the Russian air cover. The site suffered extensive damage in the fighting.

“The missile’s name should honor our guys who died in Syria,” Kadyrov said. “The Russian victory in Palmyra marked a turning point in the fight against the IS.”

Russian diplomats have sought to spread the contest beyond Russia’s borders, with the Russian Embassy in Washington tweeting a link to the Defense Ministry’s web site.

Speaking Friday at a public forum in Kaliningrad, Putin again boasted about the new weapons, saying that the still-anonymous underwater drone, the nuclear-powered cruise missile and the intercontinental hypersonic strike vehicle called Avangard border on science fiction.

He said the underwater drone “goes faster than any surface ship that exists today, I wouldn’t even tell you the speed, it’s incredible.”

The hypersonic vehicle “flies at a speed 20 times the speed of sound ... and it can maneuver thousands of kilometers up and down and right to left,” Putin said, gesticulating energetically. “It’s like science fiction.”

He said the Avangard’s development had become possible thanks to the creation of new materials.

“We have been working on them for quite a long time,” he said. “Other countries also have tried but apparently so far have failed to make them, and we succeeded thanks to new materials.”

As the weapon name contest went on, Russian officials and lawmakers insisted that Putin’s speech wasn’t an announcement of a new arms race but a warning to Washington to treat Russia as an equal partner.

“Russia has no intention of entering an arms race,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, adding that the weapons presented by the Russian leader aimed to maintain a “strategic parity, which is essential for maintaining peace and stability.”

The Pentagon on Thursday dismissed Putin’s boasts about developing a new array of nuclear weapons, saying America’s missile defense is ready to protect the nation but is not directed at Russia.

The proposal to come up with a name for the newest weapons systems caused a surge of creative and heated arguments on the Web. Some remember the funny names of weapons, others suggest going further and renaming all defense enterprises. How do Russians suggest to name a new weapon and why are serious names often given to serious technique?

Within the framework of the message to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about a new Russian cruise missile and a submarine system with a nuclear power plant. Weapons have no name yet, so anyone can offer their own version for a combat laser complex, underwater drones and a cruise missile with a nuclear power plant.

The tradition of giving a name to arms comes from antiquity: the personification of deadly weapons is both a tribute and a certain conspiracy, making it closer to the soldier. In European and English mythology it is believed that an entity whose real name a person knows can not harm him.

If in the West it is customary to call the weapon threatening, for example, the missile strategic complex RS-20A on the NATO classification is called "Satan", then in the Russian military tradition lies the habit of giving weapons amusing names. Especially in this sense, distinguished Russian bloggers. In social networks, they immediately began to offer different names to new weapons systems, sometimes supplementing the names with slogans.

"I have re-motivated the naming of our weapons. I propose to name the names of Russian classics: Laser installation "Gogol" Zhgi, father! Underwater drones "Gorky". He is waiting for you "At the bottom!". Underwater drones "Gorky". You will have a hard time. Winged rocket "Tolstoy" War or peace? "- wrote the authors of the telegram channel Sons of the Monarchy.

There were also those who offered a serious literary title referring to the Russian classics.

Bloggers from telegram ABOUT IT, seeing the excitement around the topic of Russian weapons, offered to "ride the wave" and go further:

"What if I think like this !? We are tight with IT and the other citizen also does not run seven-mile. Maybe then we should make our defense sector straight megatrend? And call the enterprises respectively: KB "Judgment Day", JSC "Scary Destruction", Concern "Sunken Ships", CJSC "Death Star". Cool, trending. Yes, and to report pleasantly, they say the KB "Judgment Day" is increasing capacity, or ZAO "The Stars of Death" has produced 1,000 units of products. "

Presidential aide Vladislav Surkov said that he was going to take part in the contest for the name of the new Russian weapons, his version - "Givi", in honor of the hero of Donbass.

The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, also offered his own version.

"To name the rocket in honor of our guys who died in Syria. They are all heroes who tried to keep the peace, to keep a miracle. "Miracle" is one of the translations of the name of the city of Palmyra. The victory of Russia in Palmyra - was a turning point in the fight against IGIL. And our president is from St. Petersburg, this city is called "North Palmira". In my opinion, the name "Palmyra" for the rocket keeps the names of all those who selflessly fought against evil, "Ramzan Kadyrov wrote to Telegram.

"I'm very sad that many listeners did not understand this, but rather hastened to name the missile on behalf of the president. Our president is not a destroyer. He is the creator. Name in his honor the university, your child. But in no case is it a rocket that kills all life. New technologies in armament in Russia are an opportunity to protect us and other countries from evil. But not invasion and unleashing war, "the journalist wrote in her teleram channel.

Most often, the names for weapons in Russia turned out on their own, military historians believe.

"From the XVI-XVII century guns began to give names, not all, but only significant and expensive, but it was me own. In the names often figured mythical and real animals, sometimes the weapon was given a name based on its external features, for example, there was a cannon-"scroll", its trunk was wound with a spiral. There were also such names of guns as Skoropeya, Volk, Dragon. Most likely, in the XVI-XVII centuries the names of the weapons were given by the masters themselves, because directly on the trunk they cast different images with which guns were later associated, "the military historian Ilya Khokhlov told the newspaper VIEW.

He noted that the practice of naming weapons was resumed in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, but more often than not, these were proper names: the techniques were given the names of heroes and heroes, but this was done by soldiers. Then they began to give names to types of weapons. During the Soviet era, they stopped engaging in naming weapons, with the exception of unofficial nicknames.

For example, the Soviet fighter I-16 was called "Ishak", U-2 - "Corn". This is a certain front-line humor, so it is more convenient. But after the Great Patriotic War, they began to give names to weapons types, but here one can not catch some logic, because the principle is not clear, "Khokhlov said.

"If we look at historical examples, there was the so-called Shuvalov" unicorn. This name was given to the smooth-bore artillery cannon-howitzer because of the family coat of arms of the count, - told the newspaper VZGLYAD military historian Alexander Bondarenko.

"There were not so many weapons in the Russian army, which needed special names. But with their expansion, weapons were given special names for internal use. It's one thing when they say that soon will be the supply of the "Peony", the other, when the experts know that this self-propelled artillery device (ACS) with a 203-mm cannon 2A44, "the expert said.

We add that a whole garden is dedicated to self-propelled artillery: for example, "Tulip" - 240-mm self-propelled mortar, SAU 2С1 "Carnation" and 2С3 "Acacia", and 82 mm automatic mortar 2Б9 "Vasilek". Harmless plant names at different times were given to the strategic missile complex Topol, the Cypress gun, the Berezov smooth-bore gun, and so on.