Moscow Announces Successful Test of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Weapon
Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state's senior general.
"We have launched a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a public appearance.
The low-altitude prototype missile, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to bypass missile defences.
International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having effectively trialed it.
The national leader declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had partial success since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.
Gen Gerasimov said the missile was in the atmosphere for a significant duration during the trial on October 21.
He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were determined to be complying with standards, as per a domestic media outlet.
"As a result, it demonstrated superior performance to evade defensive networks," the news agency reported the commander as saying.
The missile's utility has been the focus of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in 2018.
A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a singular system with intercontinental range capability."
Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, the nation confronts considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.
"Its induction into the state's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts stated.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an accident resulting in several deaths."
A defence publication cited in the report claims the projectile has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the projectile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be capable to strike goals in the United States mainland."
The corresponding source also notes the missile can travel as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, causing complexity for air defences to engage.
The projectile, referred to as an operational name by a Western alliance, is believed to be driven by a reactor system, which is designed to activate after initial propulsion units have launched it into the atmosphere.
An investigation by a media outlet the previous year located a facility 475km above the capital as the probable deployment area of the missile.
Employing satellite imagery from last summer, an specialist informed the service he had identified nine horizontal launch pads being built at the facility.
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