Moscow Confirms Effective Trial of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile
The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the country's top military official.
"We have executed a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the general told President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.
The low-altitude prototype missile, first announced in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to avoid anti-missile technology.
International analysts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.
The head of state declared that a "final successful test" of the armament had been conducted in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since 2016, based on an non-proliferation organization.
The military leader said the missile was in the air for fifteen hours during the trial on the specified date.
He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were confirmed as up to specification, as per a domestic media outlet.
"As a result, it displayed superior performance to circumvent defensive networks," the news agency reported the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the topic of vigorous discussion in military and defence circles since it was initially revealed in the past decade.
A previous study by a American military analysis unit determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."
However, as a global defence think tank commented the corresponding time, Moscow encounters considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.
"Its entry into the nation's arsenal potentially relies not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of ensuring the dependable functioning of the atomic power system," experts noted.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing multiple fatalities."
A defence publication cited in the report claims the weapon has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the missile to be based across the country and still be capable to strike targets in the continental US."
The identical publication also notes the projectile can travel as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.
The missile, code-named Skyfall by a Western alliance, is believed to be powered by a atomic power source, which is supposed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the sky.
An investigation by a media outlet recently pinpointed a facility 475km north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the missile.
Employing orbital photographs from the recent past, an expert informed the outlet he had identified nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the location.
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