Russia Reports Effective Trial of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile
Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.
"We have executed a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the general informed the head of state in a televised meeting.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, originally disclosed in 2018, has been described as having a possible global reach and the capability to bypass anti-missile technology.
International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.
The national leader stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been conducted in last year, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, only two had moderate achievement since 2016, as per an non-proliferation organization.
Gen Gerasimov said the projectile was in the sky for fifteen hours during the evaluation on October 21.
He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were found to be meeting requirements, as per a domestic media outlet.
"As a result, it displayed superior performance to bypass defensive networks," the media source quoted 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 2018.
A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a singular system with intercontinental range capability."
However, as a foreign policy research organization observed the corresponding time, Russia faces considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.
"Its integration into the country's inventory arguably hinges not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts noted.
"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident causing a number of casualties."
A military journal quoted in the report asserts the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the weapon to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be capable to strike targets in the continental US."
The same journal also notes the projectile can fly as low as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.
The missile, designated a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.
An investigation by a news agency recently located a location 295 miles from the city as the probable deployment area of the weapon.
Using orbital photographs from last summer, an expert informed the service he had observed several deployment sites being built at the location.
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