Russia Reports Successful Test of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Cruise Missile
Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the nation's top military official.
"We have executed a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the ultimate range," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a public appearance.
The terrain-hugging advanced armament, originally disclosed in 2018, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to evade missile defences.
Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.
The head of state stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in 2023, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, as per an non-proliferation organization.
The military leader reported the weapon was in the air for fifteen hours during the evaluation on the specified date.
He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were tested and were confirmed as complying with standards, according to a local reporting service.
"Therefore, it demonstrated superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source reported the commander as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in 2018.
A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."
However, as an international strategic institute commented the same year, Moscow encounters major obstacles in developing a functional system.
"Its entry into the nation's inventory potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the dependable functioning of the atomic power system," analysts wrote.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an incident resulting in several deaths."
A military journal cited in the analysis asserts the missile has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the missile to be deployed across the country and still be able to target targets in the continental US."
The identical publication also says the weapon can operate as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, making it difficult for air defences to stop.
The weapon, designated Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is thought to be driven by a reactor system, which is supposed to engage after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the atmosphere.
An inquiry by a media outlet the previous year pinpointed a location 295 miles above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.
Utilizing space-based photos from the recent past, an expert reported to the agency he had detected nine horizontal launch pads being built at the location.
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