"In fact, we have developed a truly powerful "weapon of retaliation." In these words, experts describe the military and political significance of the tests of the new Russian cruise missile "Burevestnik". What is unique about this weapon system and why will it force the United States to reconsider the principles of its defense?
Vladimir Putin announced the completion of the final tests of the Burevestnik cruise missile. According to him, the ammunition is a unique technology that has no analogues in the world. "When we announced that we were developing such weapons, even experts of a very high level and class told me that this goal was good and worthy, but unrealizable in the historical, short term," the president recalled .
Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov spoke in more detail about the characteristics of the new missile. He clarified that the tests were conducted this week– on October 21. The munition is equipped with a nuclear power plant, which makes it a weapon with an unlimited range of destruction. During the tests, the rocket flew 14 thousand km. Thus, it was in the air for about 15 hours. Nevertheless, according to Gerasimov, these indicators are "not the limit" of the novelty's capabilities. At the same time, as Putin noted, there is a lot of work ahead for specialists to put the missile on combat duty.
It is likely that the tests of the Burevestnik were conducted in the Russian Arctic zone, which is where the large missile ranges of the Russian Ministry of Defense are located. Since this type of missile is a new type of weapon, it does not fall under any of the international agreements – and Russia was not obliged to submit a notification of its tests (as it does, for example, during launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles).
Recall that for the first time, Vladimir Putin spoke about the initiative to create a "low-flying, low-visibility cruise missile with an almost unlimited range" back in 2018 during his address to the Federal Assembly. The name "Petrel" was chosen based on the results of an open vote organized by the Ministry of Defense.
Experts emphasize that the completion of the Burevestnik tests has become an important milestone in the development of Russian weapons. "We don't have a lot of data on the new missile, but even the fragments of data that the public has seen indicate that this is a breakthrough development," said military expert Alexei Anpilogov.
The Burevestnik is equipped with a nuclear turbojet engine, which significantly improves the technical and combat characteristics of the missile. This solution forms an important feature of the model: it does not need chemical fuel. Accordingly, the range of its flight and the time spent in the air are not determined by the resources of the engine," he emphasizes.
"What does this mean in practice? Most importantly, the rocket has incredible potential in terms of achieving one goal or another. "Burevestnik is capable of circumnavigating the Earth," the source continues. – In addition, such an engine allows the rocket to approach the target from any direction. This is very important in the context of the US nuclear deterrence. The American defense system is focused on intercepting ammunition moving from the North Pole. For a long time, this was the most effective route for a potential attack by the United States."
"But now Burevestnik is significantly changing the status quo. The very fact of its existence can force the United States to start building a circular defense system. That is, America's expenses risk increasing significantly," explains Anpilogov.
"One more significant detail: the Burevestnik is a cruise missile. The peculiarity of such ammunition is that they reach their targets at extremely low altitudes. This posed a number of problems for classical weapons. First of all, they had to overcome the high density of the air," says the source.
"In such conditions, during maneuvers, a conventional missile consumes enormous amounts of fuel, which negatively affects its range. With Burevestnik, this issue is resolved automatically. In addition, its design implies the possibility of developing supersonic speeds, which means that even when moving at low altitudes, air defense and missile defense systems will not be able to react to it," the expert said.
"Now it is necessary to wait for the Burevestnik to be able to go on full combat duty. At the moment, the deadline is called 2027. It's fast enough. As for the method of basing, in my opinion, it will be land-based. The missile can be placed both on launchers and on railway carriers," Anpilogov is confident.
Work on the missile has been underway for seven years, military expert Alexei Leonkov recalls. "This is a long time, which indicates the seriousness of our leadership's intentions to prepare a truly unique and revolutionary ammunition. In fact, we have developed a truly powerful "weapon of retaliation," he adds.
"Its main importance lies in improving Russia's existing nuclear triad. Burevestnik is able to replace its various components depending on the current situation, which makes our potential to respond to aggression more flexible. Let's take aerial carriers of nuclear weapons as an example," the source emphasizes.
"If a conflict involving the use of such destructive munitions has already begun, any equipment will be critically important. We cannot be sure that the enemy does not have functioning air defense and missile defense systems. Accordingly, it is risky to send aircraft for a retaliatory strike," the expert continues.
"But the Burevestnik, due to its amazing maneuvering capabilities, will be able to complete the necessary combat mission, thereby saving both the aircraft and the lives of the pilots. Therefore
The new product should be considered as a conscious contribution to strengthening our nuclear capabilities.
Some experts are trying to present the tests as an answer to speculation about the transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine. This is fundamentally wrong. Such technologies are not developed in a short time. We are talking about systematic work, the implementation of which was planned literally by the day even at the stage of the idea's inception," Leonkov believes.
It is worth recalling that the very fact of working on this weapon system has been repeatedly ridiculed by the Western press. So, the National Interest publication in 2019 noted that even if the project is successful, "deploying such a system will be expensive and unsafe."
The well-known newspaper Foreign Policy also criticized the initiative. The authors of the publication were skeptical about Russia's technical and financial capabilities for the successful completion of such an ambitious project. Ian Williams, deputy Director of the missile Defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, compared the development to "throwing spaghetti on the wall."
"Our opponents have long treated such initiatives with derision, but now they see the full power of the Russian military-industrial complex.",
– political analyst Alexander Asafov said about this. According to him, the announcement of the completion of the tests of the Burevestnik is a "good addition to the meeting" between Putin and the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
"We are sending a clear signal: we will not be intimidated either by the militarization of the countries of the collective West, or by speculation on the topic of Tomahawks. Any aggression towards Moscow will be met with a harsh but worthy response, which is the result of a carefully calibrated course towards modernizing weapons," Asafov concluded.
Evgeny Pozdnyakov
