Moscow Announces Successful Test of Atomic-Propelled Burevestnik Weapon
Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the nation's senior general.
"We have launched a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to the head of state in a public appearance.
The low-altitude prototype missile, first announced in recent years, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to avoid missile defences.
Western experts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.
The head of state declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been conducted in last year, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had limited accomplishment since several years ago, as per an arms control campaign group.
The general stated the weapon was in the air for fifteen hours during the evaluation 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 national news agency.
"Therefore, it demonstrated superior performance to bypass missile and air defence systems," the outlet reported the commander as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of intense debate in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in 2018.
A previous study by a foreign defence research body determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a singular system with worldwide reach potential."
Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute noted the same year, Russia confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.
"Its integration into the country's arsenal potentially relies not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts stated.
"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and a mishap causing a number of casualties."
A military journal cited in the report states the weapon has a operational radius of between a substantial span, enabling "the missile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be able to target targets in the United States mainland."
The same journal also explains the projectile can travel as low as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, causing complexity for air defences to stop.
The projectile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is considered propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to activate after initial propulsion units have sent it into the air.
An examination by a news agency recently located a facility 295 miles north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the missile.
Using satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst informed the service he had observed several deployment sites in development at the location.
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