Norway’s intelligence service said that the Russian Federation launched a 9M730 Burevestnik (SSC-X-9 Skyfall) nuclear cruise missile from the Novaya Zemlya Arctic test site last week. Russia reported a «successful test» on October 26.
Norway’s intelligence service said that the Russian Federation launched a 9M730 Burevestnik (SSC-X-9 Skyfall) nuclear cruise missile from the Novaya Zemlya Arctic test site last week. Russia reported a «successful test» on October 26.
According to Reuters, Norway officially confirmed the fact and place of the launch, without disclosing the technical details of the flight. In the statements of the Russian Federation, the «Burevestnik» is presented as a missile that is supposedly capable of overcoming any missile defense systems and flying at very long distances. Moscow did not provide specific parameters of the latest test. Novaya Zemlya is a long-standing Russian testing area in the Arctic Ocean. The proximity to polar routes allows you to model trajectories that are difficult to predict.
Assessments of this event in the West are cautious: attention is focused not only on the declared «characteristics», but also on the pace of work in the program, which has been going on for years with varying intensity. Key questions concern the reliability of the power plant, the stability of flight at low altitudes, and the safety of the tests.
This is a subsonic cruise missile, which the Russian Federation positions as a carrier with a nuclear energy source. The scheme of the idea is simple: at the start, a conventional solid-fuel booster unit operates, and then a nuclear installation is turned on, which should power the cruise flight for a very long time. In theory, this gives an «almost unlimited» range and the ability to bypass air defense zones, flying low and taking bypass routes. In practice, however, critical risks arise: the nuclear power unit complicates operation, increases the requirements for the safety of personnel and the environment, and the subsonic speed makes the missile more vulnerable to modern air defense if it is detected in time.
The project was first publicly shown in 2018, and open sources still describe it as «under development.» Previously, incidents with consequences for the safety of tests were recorded around the program, which only increased the skepticism of some experts. That is why the current launch is seen more as a signal of continued work, rather than as proof that the missile is ready for serial use.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Russian forces began using guided jet-powered aerial bombs to strike Ukraine. However, Ukrainian air defense systems are capable of shooting them down.
