Russia Confirms Effective Trial of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the state's leading commander.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the general reported to President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude experimental weapon, first announced in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the capacity to bypass defensive systems.

International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.

The head of state said that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been conducted in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

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

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were confirmed as meeting requirements, as per a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it exhibited advanced abilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source quoted the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in the past decade.

A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank observed the same year, Russia confronts major obstacles in making the weapon viable.

"Its induction into the nation's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There were several flawed evaluations, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the study asserts the weapon has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the weapon to be deployed across the country and still be capable to strike objectives in the United States mainland."

The identical publication also says the projectile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the earth, rendering it challenging for defensive networks to intercept.

The projectile, designated an operational name by an international defence pact, is thought to be propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to engage after initial propulsion units have sent it into the air.

An examination by a media outlet the previous year located a site 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Employing satellite imagery from the recent past, an specialist told the outlet he had observed nine horizontal launch pads in development at the location.

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