Moscow Confirms Successful Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Burevestnik Cruise Missile

Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the nation's senior general.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it covered a vast distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov informed President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been described as having a possible global reach and the capability to avoid anti-missile technology.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader stated that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been carried out in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader said the projectile was in the atmosphere for a significant duration during the test on October 21.

He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were confirmed as up to specification, as per a national news agency.

"Consequently, it exhibited high capabilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source quoted the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in the past decade.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

However, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, Moscow confronts major obstacles in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the state's stockpile arguably hinges not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts stated.

"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."

A military journal quoted in the report states the projectile has a range of between a substantial span, enabling "the projectile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be equipped to target goals in the American territory."

The identical publication also says the weapon can operate as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, causing complexity for defensive networks to stop.

The weapon, code-named an operational name by a Western alliance, is believed to be powered by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to activate after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a reporting service the previous year pinpointed a location 295 miles from the city as the possible firing point of the armament.

Using satellite imagery from last summer, an expert reported to the service he had detected multiple firing positions under construction at the facility.

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