Moscow Reports Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile
Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the nation's top military official.
"We have launched a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov told the head of state in a public appearance.
The low-flying prototype missile, initially revealed in 2018, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to avoid defensive systems.
Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.
The president declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the armament had been held in the previous year, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had partial success since the mid-2010s, according to an arms control campaign group.
Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on 21 October.
He noted the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, based on a domestic media outlet.
"Consequently, it displayed high capabilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet stated the general as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in the past decade.
A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a singular system with worldwide reach potential."
Yet, as an international strategic institute observed the corresponding time, the nation confronts considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.
"Its integration into the state's stockpile potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," experts wrote.
"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an incident resulting in several deaths."
A defence publication cited in the report asserts the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the projectile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be capable to target objectives in the American territory."
The same journal also explains the missile can operate as low as 50 to 100 metres above ground, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to engage.
The missile, designated an operational name by a foreign security organization, is believed to be powered by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after initial propulsion units have sent it into the air.
An inquiry by a news agency last year identified a site 475km north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the weapon.
Using space-based photos from August 2024, an expert told the agency he had identified nine horizontal launch pads in development at the location.
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