Russia Announces Effective Evaluation of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Cruise Missile
Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the country's top military official.
"We have conducted a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the general told the head of state in a public appearance.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, originally disclosed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to evade defensive systems.
International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.
The president said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been held in 2023, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, according to an disarmament advocacy body.
The general stated the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the evaluation on 21 October.
He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were evaluated and were confirmed as up to specification, based on a national news agency.
"As a result, it demonstrated high capabilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the news agency stated the official as saying.
The missile's utility has been the focus of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was first announced in 2018.
A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."
Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank noted the corresponding time, Russia confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.
"Its induction into the state's arsenal potentially relies not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts wrote.
"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."
A armed forces periodical quoted in the study states the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the weapon to be stationed across the country and still be capable to reach goals in the United States mainland."
The corresponding source also notes the projectile can travel as low as 164 to 328 feet above ground, rendering it challenging for air defences to stop.
The weapon, referred to as a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is believed to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the air.
An inquiry by a reporting service last year located a location a considerable distance from the city as the probable deployment area of the armament.
Utilizing satellite imagery from last summer, an expert told the agency he had detected nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the location.
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