Russia Announces Accomplished Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Missile

Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, according to the nation's senior general.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov informed the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in recent years, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the capability to avoid defensive systems.

Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been held in the previous year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, only two had moderate achievement since several years ago, based on an arms control campaign group.

Gen Gerasimov said the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the test on 21 October.

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were found to be complying with standards, according to a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it displayed high capabilities to bypass defensive networks," the outlet quoted the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was first announced in recent years.

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, Moscow encounters considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the nation's stockpile likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing several deaths."

A armed forces periodical cited in the report asserts the missile has a range of between a substantial span, permitting "the projectile to be based across the country and still be equipped to reach goals in the continental US."

The identical publication also explains the weapon can operate as low as 50 to 100 metres above ground, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The projectile, code-named Skyfall by a Western alliance, is considered powered by a reactor system, which is designed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the atmosphere.

An examination by a news agency the previous year located a location 295 miles north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Utilizing orbital photographs from last summer, an analyst informed the service he had observed several deployment sites being built at the facility.

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