Russia Confirms Effective Test of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Weapon

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the nation's senior general.

"We have executed a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov informed the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in recent years, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to evade anti-missile technology.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader stated that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been conducted in 2023, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, only two had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader stated the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the trial on the specified date.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were determined to be complying with standards, according to a local reporting service.

"Therefore, it displayed advanced abilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source quoted the commander as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A previous study by a American military analysis unit stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a singular system with global strike capacity."

However, as a foreign policy research organization commented the identical period, the nation faces major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the country's stockpile likely depends not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the reliable performance of the atomic power system," experts stated.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical referenced in the report claims the weapon has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the missile to be based throughout the nation and still be able to strike objectives in the United States mainland."

The identical publication also notes the missile can fly as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above ground, rendering it challenging for air defences to stop.

The projectile, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is considered propelled by a reactor system, which is designed to engage after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the sky.

An inquiry by a news agency recently located a site 475km north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Utilizing space-based photos from last summer, an expert informed the service he had observed multiple firing positions under construction at the facility.

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