Moscow Confirms Successful Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Missile

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the state's top military official.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude experimental weapon, originally disclosed in recent years, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the ability to evade anti-missile technology.

International analysts have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having effectively trialed it.

The head of state declared that a "final successful test" of the missile had been carried out in last year, but the assertion lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had moderate achievement since several years ago, based on an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader said the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the trial on October 21.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were determined to be up to specification, as per a national news agency.

"Therefore, it demonstrated superior performance to circumvent defensive networks," the news agency quoted the general as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was first announced in 2018.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

Yet, as an international strategic institute noted the same year, Moscow confronts considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the country's arsenal potentially relies not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts stated.

"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an accident leading to several deaths."

A defence publication cited in the analysis states the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the weapon to be based across the country and still be able to strike goals in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also notes the projectile can operate as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the earth, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The missile, referred to as a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is considered powered by a reactor system, which is intended to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a media outlet last year located a site a considerable distance north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Using satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst told the outlet he had observed several deployment sites under construction at the site.

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