Moscow Reports Successful Test of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the country's leading commander.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the commander informed the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to evade defensive systems.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The president declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been held in 2023, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov said the weapon was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were determined to be up to specification, based on a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it exhibited advanced abilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency reported the general as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in the past decade.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, Moscow confronts major obstacles in making the weapon viable.

"Its induction into the nation's stockpile potentially relies not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of securing the consistent operation of the atomic power system," experts stated.

"There were several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing several deaths."

A defence publication referenced in the report asserts the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the weapon to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to strike objectives in the United States mainland."

The same journal also explains the projectile can operate as low as a very low elevation above ground, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The weapon, code-named an operational name by a Western alliance, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to engage after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a reporting service recently pinpointed a location 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Employing orbital photographs from the recent past, an analyst reported to the outlet he had observed nine horizontal launch pads in development at the location.

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