Moscow Announces Accomplished Trial of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Missile
Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.
"We have executed a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the commander informed the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to avoid missile defences.
International analysts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.
The president said that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been held 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, according to an disarmament advocacy body.
The general stated the missile was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on October 21.
He noted the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were confirmed as up to specification, as per a domestic media outlet.
"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the news agency quoted the general as saying.
The missile's utility has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in 2018.
A previous study by a American military analysis unit determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."
Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank observed the identical period, Russia encounters considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.
"Its integration into the country's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of securing the reliable performance of the atomic power system," specialists noted.
"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an accident causing multiple fatalities."
A military journal referenced in the study asserts the weapon has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the projectile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be able to reach targets in the United States mainland."
The same journal also notes the weapon can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the earth, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.
The weapon, code-named an operational name by a Western alliance, is considered driven by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to engage after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the atmosphere.
An examination by a news agency last year identified a site 295 miles north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the weapon.
Utilizing satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst told the agency he had identified multiple firing positions in development at the location.
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