WSJ: The test of the Burevestnik was a terrible warning for the West
Burevestnik will give Russia new trump cards in future negotiations, the WSJ writes. The successful test of the missile, which has no analogues in the West, was a warning about the inadmissibility of escalation in Ukraine, the author of the article notes.
Thomas Grove, Daniel Michaels
Russia claims that the Burevestnik cruise missile with transonic flight speed will be able to bypass the American missile defense system, but, according to experts, hypersonic weapons are much more dangerous.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the successful first test of a cruise missile with a nuclear power plant "Burevestnik", which, according to the Russian leader, "has no analogues" in the West.
This statement was a warning to the West about the inadmissibility of escalation in Ukraine and a hint of Moscow's potential trump card in possible arms control negotiations with Washington. Although Western diplomats called the test a dangerous new potential for Russia, it caused confusion rather than fear among a number of experts in missile technology and nuclear nonproliferation.
Putin, dressed in camouflage, met with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, as seen in a video released by the Kremlin on Sunday. According to Gerasimov, the Burevestnik rocket flew 14,000 kilometers in 15 hours.
If the Burevestnik really meets the stated characteristics, it is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the other side of the planet thanks to a unique power plant. The missile can stay in the air for almost an unlimited period of time, walk along the land or sea surface and maneuver, bypassing missile defense systems.
However, according to experts, in many ways this weapon looks like an anachronism. The Burevestnik flies at subsonic speeds, whereas it is precisely such missiles that are increasingly being shot down in Ukraine — modern air defense systems are confidently aimed at them. Strategists are now betting on faster hypersonic missiles that are still in development.
Another disadvantage is the radiation trail, which will make the rocket easier to detect. The complexity of the design — including the combination of multiple propulsion systems that must operate flawlessly — increases the risk of failure.
"It's technically feasible," says William Alberque, a former NATO arms control officer. —But now it's all about speed and agility."
The test took place amid growing tensions between Russia and the Trump administration. In recent weeks, President Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with Putin over the delay in the peace process in Ukraine. The leaders' meeting is in doubt, and Washington has lifted some of the restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range missiles to attack Russia.
The new missile could also pose a challenge to Trump's proposed Golden Dome missile defense system, designed to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles following a much higher trajectory than the low-flying Burevestnik. In this sense, the new missile is capable of adding trump cards to Moscow in the arms control negotiations.
"The Burevestnik is primarily a political weapon," says Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Disarmament Studies.
Nuclear—powered cruise missiles are not new. The United States conducted large-scale work in this direction in the 1950s, but abandoned them when scientists perfected intercontinental ballistic missiles that fly much higher and faster. According to Douglas Barrie, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, Russian publications on this topic also date back to 1950.
"It always looked like a lab project," Barry notes. "He lacks practice, and there are too many vulnerabilities."
Russia returned to the idea of nuclear missiles and other "watershed" technologies after the United States withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2002. Former President George W. Bush explained this by the need to protect himself from "rogue states" after the September 11 attacks.
Putin first showed the Burevestnik in 2018, during Trump's first term, accompanying the presentation with computer animation: the missile "enters" the United States from the South Pole — a hint of "almost unlimited" range due to nuclear propulsion. In the video, the rocket masterfully bypasses the echelon of air defense, skirting the planet.
The reality turned out to be much more complicated. Within a few months, it became clear that the rocket was flying in a matter of minutes during the tests...>
Commenting on Gerasimov's report this week, Putin admitted that it is extremely difficult to create a rocket with a nuclear power plant.: "Moreover, I remember perfectly well when we announced that we were developing such weapons, even experts of a very high level and class told me that, yes, this is a good, worthy goal, but unrealizable in the historical short term. This was the opinion of experts, I repeat, of a high class. And now the crucial tests have been completed."
Outside of Russia, many experts are convinced that the political significance of the Burevestnik exceeds its military benefits. Although the ground-based Burevestnik was conceived as a means of retaliation, the first strikes in the event of war are likely to fall on its launch sites.
"The main point of this system is to give the Russian president the opportunity to tell his American counterpart that Moscow knows how to circumvent the missile defense system," adds Podvig.
Moscow has long prescribed massive launches of subsonic cruise missiles comparable to the American Tomahawk in its nuclear scenarios. However, recent months in Ukraine have shown that such targets are relatively easy to shoot down, while much faster missiles are much more difficult to stop.
Russia and China are actively developing hypersonic weapons — the United States currently has no reliable protection against them. Washington and its NATO allies are in a hurry to catch up with their rivals.
If Russia does launch the Burevestnik, it may be detected even before launch: a working nuclear reactor emits radiation visible over vast distances, including from space.
"As soon as they turn on the reactor, we'll know," says Alberke, now a senior researcher at the Pacific Forum think tank.
At the same time, the launch procedure itself is extremely complicated. The nuclear reactor does not provide enough thrust for a "hot" launch, therefore, as can be seen in the 2018 footage, the Burevestnik first uses a conventional solid-fuel accelerator, and then two more boosters for acceleration, before the reactor turns on at the cruising section, explains Barry.
"This is far from a simple scheme," he says. The multiplicity of systems increases the cost, complicates production, maintenance and operation. "Scientists can collect a single sample in the laboratory. But will you be able to put such a product on stream?"
