Moscow Reports Successful Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Moscow has trialed the atomic-propelled Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the country's senior general.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov told the head of state in a public appearance.

The low-altitude experimental weapon, initially revealed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid missile defences.

Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having effectively trialed it.

The president stated that a "final successful test" of the armament had been carried out in 2023, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had moderate achievement since several years ago, based on an arms control campaign group.

The military leader reported the weapon was in the air for fifteen hours during the evaluation on 21 October.

He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were determined to be meeting requirements, based on a local reporting service.

"Consequently, it exhibited superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source stated the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in the past decade.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute commented the corresponding time, Russia faces significant challenges in making the weapon viable.

"Its induction into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of securing the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," experts noted.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap resulting in multiple fatalities."

A defence publication referenced in the study states the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the weapon to be based anywhere in Russia and still be able to target goals in the United States mainland."

The identical publication also notes the missile can travel as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The projectile, referred to as a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is considered driven by a atomic power source, which is supposed to engage after initial propulsion units have sent it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a reporting service recently identified a site 295 miles above the capital as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Employing orbital photographs from August 2024, an analyst informed the outlet he had detected multiple firing positions under construction at the facility.

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