Russia Reports Effective Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the country's leading commander.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the commander informed the head of state in a public appearance.

The low-altitude prototype missile, initially revealed in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid missile defences.

International analysts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

The head of state said that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been carried out in the previous year, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had partial success since several years ago, as per an non-proliferation organization.

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

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were found to be up to specification, according to a local reporting service.

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

The projectile's application 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 foreign defence research body concluded: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a singular system with worldwide reach potential."

However, as an international strategic institute observed the corresponding time, Russia confronts significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the state's arsenal likely depends not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of ensuring the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists wrote.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap causing multiple fatalities."

A military journal quoted in the analysis claims the projectile has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the projectile to be stationed across the country and still be capable to strike targets in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also explains the projectile can operate as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The projectile, code-named an operational name by a Western alliance, is considered powered by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the air.

An examination by a media outlet the previous year identified a facility 475km above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.

Using orbital photographs from August 2024, an analyst told the agency he had observed nine horizontal launch pads being built at the location.

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