Russia Announces Successful Test of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Weapon

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the state's senior general.

"We have conducted a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov informed the head of state in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude advanced armament, first announced in recent years, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the capacity to evade anti-missile technology.

Foreign specialists have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having effectively trialed it.

The head of state said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been held in last year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader reported the projectile was in the air for 15 hours during the test on the specified date.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were found to be up to specification, according to a national news agency.

"As a result, it exhibited advanced abilities to evade missile and air defence systems," the media source reported the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in the past decade.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a distinctive armament with worldwide reach potential."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank commented the identical period, the nation faces considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.

"Its entry into the nation's stockpile potentially relies not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," experts noted.

"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident leading to a number of casualties."

A defence publication referenced in the analysis claims the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the missile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be able to reach objectives in the continental US."

The identical publication also explains the projectile can fly as at minimal altitude as a very low elevation above ground, rendering it challenging for defensive networks to engage.

The weapon, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is thought to be propelled by a reactor system, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a news agency recently identified a site a considerable distance above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.

Utilizing satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst reported to the outlet he had identified several deployment sites being built at the facility.

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