Moscow Announces Effective Trial of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Missile
The nation has evaluated the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the state's top military official.
"We have launched a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the commander informed the head of state in a televised meeting.
The terrain-hugging prototype missile, originally disclosed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capacity to avoid defensive systems.
International analysts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.
The president said that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been conducted in 2023, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had limited accomplishment since several years ago, according to an disarmament advocacy body.
The military leader reported the missile was in the atmosphere for a significant duration during the test on 21 October.
He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were found to be meeting requirements, as per a domestic media outlet.
"Consequently, it displayed advanced abilities to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency reported the official as saying.
The missile's utility has been the focus of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in recent years.
A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."
Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the same year, Moscow confronts significant challenges in achieving operational status.
"Its entry into the state's inventory arguably hinges not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of ensuring the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts noted.
"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an accident leading to a number of casualties."
A military journal referenced in the analysis states the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the weapon to be stationed across the country and still be equipped to strike goals in the United States mainland."
The corresponding source also explains the weapon can fly as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above ground, rendering it challenging for defensive networks to engage.
The missile, referred to as Skyfall by a Western alliance, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.
An inquiry by a media outlet last year pinpointed a site 475km from the city as the likely launch site of the weapon.
Using space-based photos from August 2024, an analyst informed the agency he had identified multiple firing positions in development at the facility.
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