Russia Announces Effective Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile
Moscow has trialed the atomic-propelled Burevestnik long-range missile, according to the state's senior general.
"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov told the head of state in a televised meeting.
The low-altitude advanced armament, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capacity to bypass anti-missile technology.
Western experts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.
The national leader declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been held in last year, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had partial success since 2016, according to an arms control campaign group.
Gen Gerasimov stated the projectile was in the atmosphere for a significant duration during the trial on 21 October.
He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were evaluated and were found to be meeting requirements, according to a local reporting service.
"Therefore, it displayed advanced abilities to evade defensive networks," the media source quoted the official as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in 2018.
A previous study by a American military analysis unit stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."
Yet, as an international strategic institute commented the same year, Moscow confronts considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.
"Its integration into the nation's inventory arguably hinges not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts noted.
"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."
A military journal cited in the report asserts the missile has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the missile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be able to target objectives in the American territory."
The corresponding source also explains the weapon can operate as low as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, making it difficult for defensive networks to intercept.
The projectile, code-named an operational name by a Western alliance, is considered powered by a reactor system, which is designed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the air.
An examination by a media outlet the previous year located a site a considerable distance above the capital as the probable deployment area of the missile.
Employing orbital photographs from the recent past, an expert told the service he had detected nine horizontal launch pads being built at the site.
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