Russia Confirms Successful Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the nation's top military official.

"We have launched a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the general told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in the past decade, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to avoid anti-missile technology.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The president stated that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been carried out in 2023, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had partial success since the mid-2010s, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were determined to be complying with standards, as per a local reporting service.

"As a result, it demonstrated advanced abilities to bypass defensive networks," the media source stated the general as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of vigorous discussion in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in 2018.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would offer Moscow a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a foreign policy research organization commented the corresponding time, the nation faces significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its induction into the country's arsenal potentially relies not only on surmounting the considerable technical challenge of securing the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists wrote.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."

A military journal cited in the study asserts the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the projectile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be able to strike objectives in the continental US."

The corresponding source also notes the weapon can travel as low as a very low elevation above the surface, causing complexity for defensive networks to engage.

The missile, referred to as Skyfall by an international defence pact, is believed to be driven by a reactor system, which is designed to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the air.

An investigation by a news agency recently identified a site 475km from the city as the probable deployment area of the missile.

Utilizing orbital photographs from the recent past, an specialist reported to the service he had observed nine horizontal launch pads being built at the facility.

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