Moscow Announces Successful Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile

Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the nation's senior general.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude prototype missile, first announced in 2018, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to bypass anti-missile technology.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

The head of state said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the assertion lacked outside validation. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had moderate achievement since several years ago, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

The general said the missile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were tested and were confirmed as complying with standards, according to a local reporting service.

"As a result, it demonstrated advanced abilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source reported the commander as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A previous study by a American military analysis unit stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a singular system with worldwide reach potential."

Yet, as a global defence think tank commented the identical period, the nation encounters major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the country's inventory arguably hinges not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the atomic power system," specialists stated.

"There have been multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."

A defence publication cited in the study asserts the projectile has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the weapon to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be able to reach goals in the continental US."

The identical publication also says the missile can fly as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.

The missile, referred to as a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is believed to be propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.

An examination by a news agency the previous year pinpointed a site a considerable distance from the city as the likely launch site of the missile.

Employing satellite imagery from the recent past, an expert reported to the service he had identified several deployment sites in development at the location.

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