Russia Confirms Accomplished Trial of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the state's senior general.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to the head of state in a televised meeting.

The low-flying prototype missile, initially revealed in recent years, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the capability to bypass defensive systems.

International analysts have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.

The president said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been carried out in last year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, based on an non-proliferation organization.

The general stated the missile was in the sky for 15 hours during the trial on the specified date.

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were confirmed as complying with standards, as per a local reporting service.

"As a result, it displayed high capabilities to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source quoted the official as saying.

The projectile's application has been the topic of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was first announced in recent years.

A 2021 report by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

However, as a foreign policy research organization noted the same year, Moscow confronts considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the nation's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of ensuring the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap leading to a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical referenced in the study asserts the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the weapon to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be able to strike goals in the continental US."

The identical publication also says the projectile can fly as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above ground, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to stop.

The weapon, code-named an operational name by an international defence pact, is considered driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the sky.

An investigation by a reporting service the previous year identified a site a considerable distance north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the missile.

Employing orbital photographs from the recent past, an analyst reported to the outlet he had observed several deployment sites in development at the site.

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