Russia Confirms Accomplished Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile
Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the country's senior general.
"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to the head of state in a broadcast conference.
The low-altitude advanced armament, initially revealed in recent years, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the ability to evade 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 head of state said that a "last accomplished trial" of the armament had been carried out in 2023, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had partial success since the mid-2010s, according to an disarmament advocacy body.
The military leader reported the weapon was in the air for 15 hours during the test on the specified date.
He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were determined to be complying with standards, according to a national news agency.
"Consequently, it displayed high capabilities to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source stated the general as saying.
The projectile's application has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in recent years.
A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."
Yet, as an international strategic institute noted the corresponding time, Russia confronts significant challenges in achieving operational status.
"Its induction into the state's arsenal potentially relies not only on resolving the significant development hurdle of ensuring the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.
"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap causing several deaths."
A military journal quoted in the study claims the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the projectile to be stationed across the country and still be capable to strike targets in the continental US."
The identical publication also says the weapon can fly as at minimal altitude as a very low elevation above the earth, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.
The projectile, designated Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is thought to be driven by a atomic power source, which is designed to commence operation after initial propulsion units have sent it into the sky.
An inquiry by a reporting service last year pinpointed a facility a considerable distance north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the missile.
Using orbital photographs from August 2024, an analyst informed the service he had observed several deployment sites being built at the site.
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