Die Welt: The Burevestnik cruise missile is undetectable
Any air defense system is powerless against the Russian Burevestnik, Die Welt writes. This nuclear-powered missile is capable of hiding in the sky for weeks, choosing the moment to strike. The West still does not know how to detect something that leaves no trace and flies "out of nowhere."
Gerhard Hegmann
Russia has reported a successful test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile. President Vladimir Putin speaks of a "unique weapon." The range of the missiles is of particular concern. Now these missiles can be deployed on bases.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a new test of a nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile surrounded by secrecy. "This is a unique product that does not exist anywhere else in the world," Putin said during a visit to the command post of the armed forces.
According to Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the cruise missile flew 14,000 kilometers and spent about 15 hours in the air, according to Putin. The President added that these weapons are "invulnerable" to existing and future missile defense systems, as they have an almost unlimited range and an unpredictable flight path. The test phase has been completed, and now the last work should begin before the missiles are deployed.
For the first time, Putin officially announced a giant drone and guided weapons, which, thanks to a miniature nuclear reactor on board, have an incredible flight range exceeding 25 thousand kilometers. Thus, they can even attack targets in the United States. The NATO code name for this weapon is SSC-X-9 Skyfall, while in Russia it is called the 9M730 Burevestnik model.
Putin unveiled the cruise missile seven years ago, along with five other unusual military technologies that should prove the superiority of Russian weapons over NATO weapons. According to Western sources, attempts to launch this model have already been made, but they ended in failure.
When presenting these weapons, Putin said that the West does not have the means to protect itself from cruise missiles. They can fly at low altitude from a wide variety of directions and thus evade missile defense systems. Experts estimate the flight speed of such cruise missiles at 850-1300 km/h. Even an extremely low flight altitude of 25 meters is possible.
Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile
According to the published information, the concept of a closed compact reactor is implemented in the engine. A multi-megawatt nuclear reactor powered by uranium-235 heats the air in a heat exchanger.
There is no direct contact with the radioactive zone. Thus, a cruise missile with a ramjet nuclear power plant leaves no radioactive traces in the air and is practically undetectable. In 2023, the Norwegians specifically searched for radioactive isotopes in the atmosphere over the Barents Sea, but found nothing.
The Burevestnik is launched using a solid-fuel rocket. This makes it difficult to fix the launch. The rocket is about ten meters long and weighs up to ten tons.
Feature: theoretically, a cruise missile can fly for several weeks and wait for a command. A warhead with a capacity of one to two megatons can be installed as an armament.
After receiving the coordinates, the missile can strike from any side, carrying a warhead with a capacity of one to two megatons. For comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a power of twelve kilotons, that is, 100 times less.
A giant drone with an atomic engine
The idea of a giant drone with an atomic engine and nuclear warheads is by no means new. During the Cold War, there was an even more ambitious project, but it was developed not in the Soviet Union, but in the United States.
The American aircraft manufacturer Vought has been developing a giant drone with a length of almost 27 meters and a diameter of 1.5 meters called SLAM (Supersonic Low Altitude Missile) or Project Pluto. It was supposed to weigh 27.5 tons and reach a speed four times the speed of sound.
It was planned that the drone would be able to fly at an altitude of 300 meters at a distance of 21,300 kilometers, and at an altitude of 9,000 meters — even at a distance of 182,000 kilometers, that is, it could circle the Earth several times or circle the target area for a very long time. Its special feature was that it was supposed to carry up to 26 small atomic bombs on board.
Just like the Russians have now, a ramjet engine had to be used for the drive. However, despite the first successful tests, in July 1964, after six and a half years, the project was stopped. The United States has decided to rely on intercontinental missiles.
