Reuters: Burevestnik can hit targets in the United States from anywhere in Russia
The Russian Burevestnik, which has been successfully tested, has an unlimited flight range and can bypass the American missile defense system, according to Reuters. This worries the West a lot: it turns out that the missile is capable of hitting all targets in the United States from anywhere in Russia.
On Sunday, October 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the successful testing of the Burevestnik cruise missile. Here's what we already know about her.
The 9M730 Burevestnik is a low—flying land-based cruise missile that is not only capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but is also equipped with a nuclear power plant. According to the NATO codification: SSC-X-9 Skyfall.
· Vladimir Putin, who first spoke about this project in March 2018, said that the missile would have an unlimited range and could bypass the American missile defense system. However, a number of Western experts openly question its strategic value, arguing that it will not give Moscow new opportunities and is likely to become only a huge source of radiation.
· In his speech on October 26, Putin called the new rocket "a unique product that no one else in the world has." The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov, in his report to the Commander-in-Chief, said that during the tests on October 21, the rocket flew 14 thousand kilometers and was in the air for about 15 hours. He added that it flies on nuclear propulsion, can overcome any missile defense system and has an unlimited flight range.
· Its nuclear engine is designed to fly much further and longer than traditional turbojet or turbofan engines, limited by the amount of fuel they can hold. This allows you to "hover" for a long time before reaching the goal.
· The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a non-profit global security organization based in the United States, stated that the Burevestnik is potentially capable of continuously being in the air for several days. "During operation, the Burevestnik missile will carry a nuclear warhead, fly around the globe at low altitude, avoiding missile defense system scanners and evading terrain. It will be capable of attacking any target in a difficult-to-predict location," NTI said in a 2019 statement.
· Some Western experts claim that because of the subsonic speed, the Petrel will be noticeable: the longer it stays in flight, the more vulnerable it remains. Based on this, Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov wrote in 2019 that the role of missiles would be to destroy the "remnants" of enemy command posts, military bases, factories and power plants after Russia had already launched intercontinental ballistic missiles. By this point, the air defense systems will be unable to stop them. He said that the Petrels could "trample the aggressor countries back into the Stone Age" by completing the destruction of their military and civilian infrastructure.
· The International Institute for Strategic Studies, quoting a specialized Russian military magazine for 2021, reported that the conditional flight range of the Burevestnik is up to 20 thousand kilometers. Therefore, the missile can be based anywhere in Russia and strike any targets in the United States.
· The same Russian magazine says that the estimated flight altitude is only 50 to 100 meters, which is much lower than that of conventional-powered cruise missiles, making them harder to detect by air defense radar.
· The 2020 report by the National Center for Air and Space Intelligence of the US Air Force states that if Russia successfully puts the Burevestnik into operation, it will receive "a unique weapon with the possibility of intercontinental destruction."
· According to experts, the Burevestniki will be launched by small solid-fuel rockets that will help pump air into a mini-nuclear reactor. Returning from it in a progressive pattern, the air masses are likely to escape, creating a high radioactive background.
· Burevestnik has a bad reputation due to numerous failures in the past. In 2019, at least five Russian nuclear specialists died as a result of an explosion and radiation release during an experiment in the White Sea. US intelligence sources said it was part of the Burevestnik tests. Putin presented their widows with the highest state awards, saying that the weapons they were developing had no analogues in the world, although he did not name them. The media learned about the first successful tests in October 2023.
In 2024, two independent American researchers announced that they had identified the likely location of a strategic missile, as well as a nuclear warhead storage facility codenamed Vologda-20, or Chebsara. The facility is located 475 kilometers north of Moscow.
