Russia Confirms Accomplished Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the country's top military official.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the commander reported to President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging prototype missile, first announced in 2018, has been described as having a possible global reach and the capacity to avoid defensive systems.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.

The head of state said that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been carried out in the previous year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had moderate achievement since 2016, based on an non-proliferation organization.

The general said the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the evaluation on October 21.

He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were confirmed as meeting requirements, according to a domestic media outlet.

"Consequently, it displayed high capabilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet stated the official as saying.

The projectile's application has been the topic of intense debate in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute noted the identical period, Moscow encounters considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the nation's stockpile likely depends not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the atomic power system," analysts stated.

"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident causing several deaths."

A military journal quoted in the analysis claims the projectile has a flight distance of between a substantial span, enabling "the missile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be able to reach targets in the United States mainland."

The same journal also says the missile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above ground, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.

The projectile, referred to as Skyfall by a Western alliance, is considered propelled by a atomic power source, which is intended to activate after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the sky.

An inquiry by a news agency recently pinpointed a site 475km from the city as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Using orbital photographs from the recent past, an expert informed the outlet he had observed nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the facility.

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