Moscow Confirms Accomplished Trial of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, according to the state's top military official.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a vast distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff the commander informed the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude prototype missile, initially revealed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to evade missile defences.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The national leader said that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been conducted in last year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had partial success since several years ago, as per an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader reported the missile was in the air for 15 hours during the evaluation on 21 October.

He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were determined to be meeting requirements, based on a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it displayed advanced abilities to evade missile and air defence systems," the news agency stated the commander as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in the past decade.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute observed the same year, Moscow confronts considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the nation's stockpile potentially relies not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts stated.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an accident resulting in multiple fatalities."

A defence publication quoted in the report states the projectile has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the projectile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be able to target targets in the United States mainland."

The identical publication also notes the weapon can operate as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, making it difficult for defensive networks to stop.

The projectile, designated a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to engage after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the sky.

An inquiry by a news agency recently identified a site 295 miles above the capital as the likely launch site of the missile.

Using satellite imagery from last summer, an expert informed the outlet he had observed nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the site.

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