Russia Confirms Effective Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's senior general.

"We have launched a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov told the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in the past decade, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to evade defensive systems.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.

The president said that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been conducted in 2023, but the assertion lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, only two had partial success since 2016, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader stated the weapon was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on October 21.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were determined to be complying with standards, as per a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the media source quoted the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in the past decade.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a singular system with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as an international strategic institute observed the corresponding time, Russia encounters significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the country's stockpile likely depends not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the atomic power system," analysts wrote.

"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident leading to multiple fatalities."

A defence publication referenced in the analysis asserts the weapon has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the weapon to be deployed across the country and still be capable to strike targets in the continental US."

The same journal also explains the projectile can fly as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The projectile, designated an operational name by an international defence pact, is believed to be powered by a reactor system, which is intended to activate after initial propulsion units have sent it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a reporting service last year pinpointed a site a considerable distance north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the missile.

Employing satellite imagery from the recent past, an specialist informed the service he had observed several deployment sites being built at the location.

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