Moscow Reports Successful Test of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Weapon

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

"We have executed a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Chief of General Staff the general reported to the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to avoid defensive systems.

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

The national leader said that a "final successful test" of the armament had been held in the previous year, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, only two had moderate achievement since 2016, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov stated the missile was in the air for 15 hours during the test on October 21.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were determined to be up to specification, according to a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it demonstrated advanced abilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source reported the official as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of vigorous discussion in military and defence circles since it was first announced in 2018.

A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit concluded: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a singular system with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as a global defence think tank noted the same year, Russia confronts significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the state's inventory arguably hinges not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts stated.

"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident leading to several deaths."

A armed forces periodical cited in the study claims the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the projectile to be deployed across the country and still be capable to reach targets in the continental US."

The corresponding source also notes the missile can fly as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, causing complexity for defensive networks to stop.

The weapon, designated a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is believed to be powered by a reactor system, which is supposed to engage after initial propulsion units have launched it into the air.

An inquiry by a media outlet the previous year identified a location 295 miles north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the missile.

Using orbital photographs from August 2024, an analyst reported to the outlet he had observed multiple firing positions in development at the site.

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