Moscow Reports Successful Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Weapon

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the state's senior general.

"We have launched a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov informed the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude advanced armament, initially revealed in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the capacity to bypass missile defences.

Western experts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The president declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been carried out in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since several years ago, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov reported the weapon was in the sky for a significant duration during the evaluation on October 21.

He noted the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were determined to be meeting requirements, as per a local reporting service.

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

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in recent years.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with worldwide reach potential."

However, as an international strategic institute observed the same year, Russia confronts significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its entry into the country's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts wrote.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."

A military journal cited in the analysis claims the missile has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the projectile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to target objectives in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also says the missile can fly as low as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.

The projectile, referred to as an operational name by a Western alliance, is believed to be driven by a atomic power source, which is supposed to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a reporting service last year located a location 475km above the capital as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Utilizing orbital photographs from last summer, an analyst told the agency he had observed several deployment sites under construction at the site.

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