Russia Reports Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Missile

Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the country's senior general.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff the commander reported to the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude prototype missile, initially revealed in recent years, 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 Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The president said that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had limited accomplishment since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The general stated the missile 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 confirmed as complying with standards, as per a national news agency.

"Therefore, it exhibited advanced abilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the media source stated the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was first announced in recent years.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a global defence think tank noted the identical period, Russia faces considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its induction into the nation's arsenal likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of securing the reliable performance of the atomic power system," experts noted.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an incident causing a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical cited in the report asserts the weapon has a flight distance of between a substantial span, permitting "the weapon to be deployed throughout the nation and still be able to target objectives in the United States mainland."

The same journal also notes the projectile can fly as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above ground, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.

The projectile, code-named an operational name by an international defence pact, is considered powered by a reactor system, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the sky.

An examination by a news agency the previous year located a location a considerable distance above the capital as the possible firing point of the armament.

Utilizing orbital photographs from last summer, an expert informed the agency he had observed several deployment sites being built at the location.

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