Moscow Reports Effective Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the nation's leading commander.

"We have launched a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the general told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The low-flying prototype missile, first announced in the past decade, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to evade anti-missile technology.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism 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 the previous year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the evaluation on 21 October.

He noted the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were determined to be complying with standards, according to a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it displayed advanced abilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the news agency quoted the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in 2018.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with worldwide reach potential."

Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization observed the corresponding time, the nation confronts major obstacles in achieving operational status.

"Its entry into the state's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the dependable functioning of the atomic power system," analysts stated.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an incident resulting in several deaths."

A armed forces periodical referenced in the analysis states the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the projectile to be stationed across the country and still be equipped to target objectives in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also says the weapon can fly as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, rendering it challenging for air defences to intercept.

The missile, code-named a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is believed to be propelled by a reactor system, which is intended to engage after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the air.

An inquiry by a media outlet recently pinpointed a site 295 miles above the capital as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Using satellite imagery from the recent past, an analyst told the service he had observed multiple firing positions under construction at the facility.

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