Russia has tested a new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile named the Burevestnik, which has reportedly travelled a distance of 14,000 km and remained in the air for nearly 15 hours, reported Reuters citing said country’s top general. The test took place on October 21, and the confirmation was given by the general to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, the report mentioned.
“The missile travelled 14,000 km (8,700 miles) and was in the air for about 15 hours, General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, told Putin, it added.
Reacting to the development, Putin had called the 9M730 Burevestnik (Storm Petrel) – dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO – “invincible” to current and future missile defences. In his Sunday address, Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, told Gerasimov that Burevestnik tests have now been completed and that work should start on the final stage before deploying the missiles, Reuters mentioned.
‘Unique ware which nobody else’
Addressing the generals overseeing the war in Ukraine, he said the missile is “a unique ware which nobody else in the world has,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Sunday, as per Reuters.
Putin recalled that earlier, some Russian specialists had told him that the weapon was unlikely to ever be possible, but now, “crucial testing” had been concluded.
“The so-called modernity of our nuclear deterrent forces is at the highest level,” Putin said, while telling Gerasimov that Russia needed to understand how to class the weapon and prepare necessary infrastructure for the deployment of Burevestnik.
Notably, both Russia and United States together have about 87% of the global inventory of nuclear weapons. According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Russia has 5,459 nuclear warheads while the United States has 5,177.
What is Russia’s Burevestnik missile?
The 9M730 Burevestnik, which translates as “storm petrel”, is a ground-launched, low-flying cruise missile that is not only capable of carrying a nuclear warhead but is also nuclear-powered, reported Reuters. The missile is referred to as SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO.
Putin had first talked about the project back in March 2018, then saying that the missile would have an unlimited range and can evade US missile defences.
The missile is designed to enable it to fly much further, for longer, than traditional turbojet or turbofan engines that are limited by how much fuel they can carry, the report mentioned. This means that it would “loiter” for an extended period before hitting a target.
In 2020, a report by the United States Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center said that if Russia successfully brought the Burevestnik into service, it would give Moscow a “unique weapon with intercontinental-range capability”.