Moscow Announces Effective Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile

The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the state's senior general.

"We have conducted a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov told the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to evade anti-missile technology.

International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The head of state stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been conducted in the previous year, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader stated the weapon was in the sky for fifteen hours during the test on the specified date.

He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were determined to be up to specification, as per a national news agency.

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

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was initially revealed in recent years.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

However, as a global defence think tank commented the identical period, Russia faces major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the country's stockpile arguably hinges not only on resolving the significant development hurdle of ensuring the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts wrote.

"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an incident leading to multiple fatalities."

A defence publication cited in the study claims the weapon has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the weapon to be deployed throughout the nation and still be equipped to strike targets in the United States mainland."

The identical publication also explains the projectile can fly as low as a very low elevation above ground, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.

The weapon, designated a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is considered driven by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to engage after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a reporting service the previous year located a facility a considerable distance above the capital as the possible firing point of the armament.

Employing orbital photographs from last summer, an analyst told the service he had identified several deployment sites in development at the location.

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