Russia Confirms Effective Test of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Weapon

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the country's leading commander.

"We have launched a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the commander reported to President Vladimir Putin in a public appearance.

The low-altitude experimental weapon, initially revealed in recent years, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid defensive systems.

International analysts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The national leader stated that a "final successful test" of the armament had been held in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, as per an arms control campaign group.

The military leader reported the weapon was in the sky for 15 hours during the trial on 21 October.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were confirmed as complying with standards, as per a national news agency.

"As a result, it exhibited high capabilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency stated the official as saying.

The missile's utility has been the topic of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in the past decade.

A 2021 report by a foreign defence research body determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as an international strategic institute observed the identical period, Moscow faces considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its induction into the nation's arsenal potentially relies not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists noted.

"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident leading to multiple fatalities."

A military journal quoted in the study states the missile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the projectile to be based across the country and still be able to strike objectives in the continental US."

The corresponding source also says the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above ground, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The missile, designated Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is believed to be propelled by a reactor system, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the sky.

An examination by a news agency recently identified a facility 295 miles north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Employing orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert informed the service he had identified multiple firing positions being built at the facility.

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