Russia Announces Accomplished Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff the general informed the head of state in a televised meeting.

The low-flying prototype missile, first announced in the past decade, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to avoid missile defences.

International analysts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The head of state stated that a "final successful test" of the missile had been held in the previous year, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had moderate achievement since 2016, according to an arms control campaign group.

The general reported the missile was in the sky for a significant duration during the trial on the specified date.

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were found to be complying with standards, according to a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it demonstrated superior performance to bypass defensive networks," the outlet reported the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was first announced in 2018.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a foreign policy research organization observed the identical period, the nation encounters considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.

"Its entry into the nation's stockpile arguably hinges not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap leading to multiple fatalities."

A military journal cited in the study asserts the missile has a range of between a substantial span, allowing "the weapon to be deployed across the country and still be able to reach goals in the American territory."

The same journal also explains the missile can travel as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for air defences to stop.

The missile, designated a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is believed to be driven by a atomic power source, which is designed to engage after initial propulsion units have launched it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a media outlet last year pinpointed a site 295 miles north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Using orbital photographs from the recent past, an analyst reported to the agency he had observed nine horizontal launch pads being built at the location.

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