Russia Reports Effective Evaluation of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Missile
Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the nation's leading commander.
"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.
The low-altitude advanced armament, first announced in the past decade, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to avoid defensive systems.
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 declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in last year, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had moderate achievement since several years ago, as per an disarmament advocacy body.
The general stated the missile was in the sky for fifteen hours during the test on October 21.
He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were found to be meeting requirements, based on a local reporting service.
"Consequently, it demonstrated advanced abilities to evade missile and air defence systems," the media source stated the general as saying.
The projectile's application has been the subject of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in recent years.
A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a singular system with global strike capacity."
However, as a global defence think tank noted the corresponding time, the nation faces major obstacles in achieving operational status.
"Its entry into the country's stockpile likely depends not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of securing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts wrote.
"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in several deaths."
A military journal quoted in the report asserts the weapon has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the missile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be able to reach goals in the United States mainland."
The same journal also notes the projectile can operate as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above ground, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.
The weapon, referred to as Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is thought to be powered by a reactor system, which is supposed to commence operation after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the sky.
An examination by a news agency last year pinpointed a site a considerable distance from the city as the likely launch site of the missile.
Employing satellite imagery from August 2024, an analyst told the agency he had identified multiple firing positions under construction at the facility.
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