Moscow Announces Successful Trial of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Weapon

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the state's top military official.

"We have executed a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Chief of General Staff the commander told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude experimental weapon, first announced in the past decade, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to evade missile defences.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.

The head of state declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been carried out in the previous year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov said the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the test on the specified date.

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were determined to be up to specification, as per a local reporting service.

"As a result, it demonstrated high capabilities to bypass missile and air defence systems," the media source quoted the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the topic of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was first announced in recent years.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a singular system with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank noted the identical period, the nation faces considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its induction into the nation's arsenal potentially relies not only on resolving the significant development hurdle of securing the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts stated.

"There were several flawed evaluations, and an incident resulting in a number of casualties."

A military journal referenced in the study claims the weapon has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the projectile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be able to strike objectives in the American territory."

The identical publication also notes the missile can operate as close to the ground as a very low elevation above ground, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to engage.

The projectile, designated Skyfall by a Western alliance, is considered propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to engage after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a reporting service the previous year identified a facility a considerable distance north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the armament.

Utilizing orbital photographs from the recent past, an specialist told the outlet he had detected several deployment sites being built at the site.

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