Moscow Announces Successful Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Missile
The nation has evaluated the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the state's leading commander.
"We have launched a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a public appearance.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, initially revealed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to avoid anti-missile technology.
Foreign specialists have previously cast doubt over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.
The head of state said that a "final successful test" of the armament had been held in last year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had partial success since the mid-2010s, according to an disarmament advocacy body.
The general reported the weapon was in the sky for fifteen hours during the trial on the specified date.
He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were found to be up to specification, as per a national news agency.
"As a result, it demonstrated high capabilities to bypass missile and air defence systems," the news agency quoted the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the subject of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in the past decade.
A previous study by a American military analysis unit concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a unique weapon with global strike capacity."
Yet, as a global defence think tank commented the corresponding time, the nation confronts significant challenges in developing a functional system.
"Its entry into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts wrote.
"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an accident causing several deaths."
A armed forces periodical referenced in the study asserts the projectile has a flight distance of between a substantial span, enabling "the missile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be able to strike goals 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, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to stop.
The weapon, code-named an operational name by an international defence pact, is thought to be powered by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the sky.
An examination by a media outlet the previous year located a facility a considerable distance north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the armament.
Using orbital photographs from last summer, an specialist reported to the agency he had identified several deployment sites under construction at the facility.
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