Russia Announces Successful Test of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Weapon

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state's senior general.

"We have conducted a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude advanced armament, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid anti-missile technology.

Foreign specialists have previously cast doubt over the projectile's tactical importance and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.

The national leader declared that a "final successful test" of the armament had been carried out in 2023, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since several years ago, based on an non-proliferation organization.

Gen Gerasimov said the projectile was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on 21 October.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were tested and were found to be up to specification, according to a local reporting service.

"As a result, it demonstrated high capabilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the outlet stated the commander as saying.

The projectile's application has been the focus of vigorous discussion in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute noted the corresponding time, the nation confronts considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.

"Its entry into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on resolving the significant development hurdle of securing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts noted.

"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing a number of casualties."

A military journal quoted in the analysis asserts the weapon has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the projectile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be capable to reach targets in the American territory."

The same journal also explains the missile can travel as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.

The missile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is believed to be propelled by a atomic power source, which is designed to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the sky.

An examination by a reporting service the previous year pinpointed a location a considerable distance above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Utilizing orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert told the outlet he had observed several deployment sites in development at the site.

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