Moscow Confirms Accomplished Test of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Weapon
Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the state's leading commander.
"We have executed a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the commander told the head of state in a broadcast conference.
The low-altitude advanced armament, first announced in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the ability to evade anti-missile technology.
Western experts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.
The head of state declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been conducted in the previous year, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, based on an arms control campaign group.
The military leader reported the weapon was in the sky for a significant duration during the test on 21 October.
He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were found to be up to specification, based on a national news agency.
"As a result, it demonstrated advanced abilities to circumvent defensive networks," the news agency stated the official as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of intense debate in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in 2018.
A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a singular system with global strike capacity."
Yet, as a global defence think tank commented the corresponding time, Moscow confronts major obstacles in achieving operational status.
"Its integration into the state's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists noted.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an incident causing a number of casualties."
A military journal quoted in the analysis states the missile has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the missile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be equipped to strike goals in the United States mainland."
The identical publication also says the weapon can travel as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above ground, making it difficult for air defences to engage.
The projectile, referred to as Skyfall by an international defence pact, is considered powered by a atomic power source, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.
An inquiry by a news agency recently located a facility 295 miles from the city as the probable deployment area of the weapon.
Utilizing orbital photographs from August 2024, an specialist told the outlet he had detected multiple firing positions in development at the facility.
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