Moscow Reports Effective Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, according to the state's senior general.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it covered a vast distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the general reported to the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-flying prototype missile, originally disclosed in 2018, has been described as having a possible global reach and the ability to avoid defensive systems.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having accomplished its evaluation.

The president stated that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been conducted in 2023, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, based on an arms control campaign group.

Gen Gerasimov stated the weapon was in the sky for a significant duration during the evaluation on October 21.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were determined to be meeting requirements, according to a national news agency.

"As a result, it demonstrated advanced abilities to bypass missile and air defence systems," the media source reported the official as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in the past decade.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a singular system with worldwide reach potential."

Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization noted the identical period, Moscow faces considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the state's inventory arguably hinges not only on resolving the significant development hurdle of securing the consistent operation of the atomic power system," experts stated.

"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident resulting in several deaths."

A armed forces periodical cited in the analysis asserts the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the missile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to target goals in the United States mainland."

The same journal also explains the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to stop.

The projectile, code-named an operational name by a foreign security organization, is thought to be propelled by a reactor system, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the air.

An investigation by a reporting service last year pinpointed a location 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Employing space-based photos from last summer, an expert reported to the agency he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the location.

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