Russia Reports Effective Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the country's senior general.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov informed the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, initially revealed in the past decade, has been described as having a possible global reach and the capacity to evade missile defences.

Western experts have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and the nation's statements of having accomplished its evaluation.

The head of state said that a "final successful test" of the armament had been conducted in the previous year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, as per an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader reported the missile was in the sky for a significant duration during the trial on 21 October.

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were determined to be meeting requirements, as per a national news agency.

"Therefore, it displayed advanced abilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the outlet stated the commander as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

However, as an international strategic institute noted the corresponding time, Russia encounters considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the country's inventory potentially relies not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of securing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts stated.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an accident causing a number of casualties."

A military journal cited in the report claims the weapon has a flight distance of between a substantial span, permitting "the weapon to be deployed throughout the nation and still be equipped to target targets in the United States mainland."

The same journal also explains the weapon can fly as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to stop.

The projectile, designated Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is considered driven by a reactor system, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a reporting service the previous year identified a site 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Employing space-based photos from August 2024, an analyst informed the service he had observed several deployment sites in development at the site.

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