Moscow Reports Effective Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile
The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the nation's senior general.
"We have conducted a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.
The low-flying prototype missile, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the ability to evade missile defences.
Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.
The national leader declared that a "final successful test" of the missile had been conducted in the previous year, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had limited accomplishment since several years ago, based on an arms control campaign group.
The general stated the projectile was in the air for 15 hours during the evaluation on the specified date.
He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were determined to be meeting requirements, according to a local reporting service.
"Consequently, it displayed advanced abilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the outlet reported the official as saying.
The projectile's application has been the subject of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was initially revealed in recent years.
A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."
However, as an international strategic institute noted the identical period, Moscow confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.
"Its induction into the country's stockpile potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts noted.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an incident leading to a number of casualties."
A defence publication referenced in the analysis states the missile has a range of between a substantial span, enabling "the weapon to be deployed across the country and still be capable to strike goals in the American territory."
The same journal also explains the weapon can fly as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for air defences to engage.
The projectile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is considered propelled by a atomic power source, which is designed to engage after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the atmosphere.
An investigation by a news agency recently pinpointed a facility 475km above the capital as the probable deployment area of the missile.
Employing space-based photos from last summer, an expert informed the agency he had detected several deployment sites in development at the facility.
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