Russia Announces Effective Test of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the state's senior general.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Chief of General Staff the general told the Russian leader in a public appearance.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to evade defensive systems.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

The head of state declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been conducted in 2023, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had limited accomplishment since 2016, as per an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader said the projectile was in the air for 15 hours during the test on 21 October.

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

"As a result, it displayed high capabilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet stated the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was first announced in recent years.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

However, as a global defence think tank commented the same year, the nation faces significant challenges in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the nation's inventory potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts stated.

"There have been multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident leading to a number of casualties."

A military journal cited in the report asserts the projectile has a operational radius of between a substantial span, enabling "the projectile to be based throughout the nation and still be able to reach objectives in the American territory."

The same journal also notes the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The projectile, designated a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is considered propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to activate after initial propulsion units have sent it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a news agency recently located a location a considerable distance north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Using satellite imagery from last summer, an expert reported to the service he had observed nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the location.

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