Moscow Reports Successful Test of Reactor-Driven Burevestnik Weapon

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the country's leading commander.

"We have executed a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov reported to the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The low-flying advanced armament, initially revealed in the past decade, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to bypass defensive systems.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The president said that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been held in the previous year, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had limited accomplishment since several years ago, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov reported the missile was in the air for fifteen hours during the test on 21 October.

He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were found to be meeting requirements, based on a national news agency.

"Consequently, it displayed superior performance to circumvent defensive networks," the media source stated the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in recent years.

A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the identical period, Moscow encounters significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the country's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts wrote.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an accident leading to multiple fatalities."

A defence publication cited in the report states the projectile has a operational radius of between a substantial span, allowing "the projectile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be able to target targets in the continental US."

The same journal also explains the weapon can operate as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to engage.

The weapon, designated an operational name by a foreign security organization, is considered propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the atmosphere.

An examination by a reporting service last year pinpointed a site a considerable distance above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Utilizing satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst reported to the service he had detected nine horizontal launch pads in development at the site.

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