Moscow Announces Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the nation's leading commander.

"We have conducted a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff the commander told the head of state in a public appearance.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to evade anti-missile technology.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The head of state said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been carried out in 2023, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader stated the weapon was in the air for a significant duration during the evaluation on October 21.

He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were confirmed as meeting requirements, as per a domestic media outlet.

"Consequently, it displayed superior performance to bypass missile and air defence systems," the outlet quoted the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was initially revealed in 2018.

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

However, as a foreign policy research organization commented the same year, Moscow faces major obstacles in achieving operational status.

"Its integration into the state's arsenal likely depends not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident leading to multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical cited in the analysis asserts the missile has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the missile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be capable to strike targets in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also says the missile can operate as low as a very low elevation above ground, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The weapon, referred to as a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is considered powered by a reactor system, which is supposed to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a media outlet the previous year located a facility 475km above the capital as the probable deployment area of the missile.

Utilizing space-based photos from August 2024, an specialist informed the agency he had observed several deployment sites under construction at the location.

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