Russia Confirms Successful Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Weapon

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the state's senior general.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov reported to the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The low-flying 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 in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The head of state said that a "final successful test" of the missile had been held in the previous year, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had partial success since several years ago, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The general said the projectile was in the sky for 15 hours during the test on the specified date.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were found to be complying with standards, based on a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it displayed advanced abilities to evade defensive networks," the outlet reported the official as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in recent years.

A 2021 report by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a singular system with global strike capacity."

However, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, the nation confronts major obstacles in making the weapon viable.

"Its induction into the nation's stockpile arguably hinges not only on resolving the significant development hurdle of ensuring the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists wrote.

"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident leading to several deaths."

A defence publication referenced in the report asserts the missile has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the weapon to be stationed across the country and still be equipped to target objectives in the continental US."

The same journal also says the projectile can fly as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to stop.

The projectile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is considered driven by a reactor system, which is supposed to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the sky.

An investigation by a news agency the previous year pinpointed a location a considerable distance above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.

Employing orbital photographs from the recent past, an analyst informed the service he had detected nine horizontal launch pads in development at the site.

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