Moscow Announces Accomplished Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Weapon
The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the country's leading commander.
"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed 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 low-altitude prototype missile, first announced in recent years, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to avoid defensive systems.
Western experts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.
The national leader stated that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been carried out in last year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had limited accomplishment since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.
The general reported the projectile was in the sky for 15 hours during the test on the specified date.
He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were confirmed as complying with standards, according to a local reporting service.
"As a result, it demonstrated high capabilities to bypass defensive networks," the outlet reported the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the topic of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was first announced in the past decade.
A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a unique weapon with global strike capacity."
Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization noted the identical period, the nation confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.
"Its induction into the country's inventory potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.
"There were several flawed evaluations, and an accident leading to a number of casualties."
A military journal cited in the analysis claims the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the weapon to be based throughout the nation and still be equipped to reach objectives in the continental US."
The corresponding source also explains the weapon can travel as low as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, rendering it challenging for air defences to intercept.
The projectile, referred to as an operational name by a foreign security organization, is considered powered by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the air.
An investigation by a news agency last year pinpointed a site 295 miles north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the armament.
Using orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert told the agency he had detected nine horizontal launch pads being built at the facility.
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