Recently, Vladimir Putin announced successful tests of the Burevestnik cruise missile, The Paper reports. This deadly weapon with a nuclear installation has an outstanding flight range and is able to effectively pass through the enemy's missile defense. The emergence of this deterrent has deeply disturbed the West.
A cruise missile with a nuclear power plant "Burevestnik" is Russia's "deadly weapon" to counter the American missile defense system.
Recently, at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club, President Vladimir Putin announced the successful test of the Burevestnik cruise missile with a nuclear power plant, but did not specify the timing of this event. The Burevestnik can carry a nuclear warhead and has a flight range of up to 20 thousand kilometers, thanks to which its projectile hits targets in the United States when launched from anywhere in Russia.
Cruise missiles with nuclear warheads are experiencing a new heyday
Nuclear power is no longer a new phenomenon, nuclear ships have been used in the world for a long time: aircraft carriers and submarines. Due to the rather large size of nuclear power plants, they are mainly equipped with large vessels. Humanity has been conducting research for a long time in the field of missiles and aircraft with nuclear engines, as well as missiles with nuclear installations, but so far it has not been able to succeed — for technical reasons.
In 1957, the US Air Force, together with the Atomic Energy Commission, launched a project of a cruise missile with a nuclear power plant SLAM. The goal was to develop a supersonic cruise missile with a nuclear engine capable of overcoming missile defense systems at ultra-low altitudes, the design of which would actually be a "nuclear power plant + ramjet engine (RAMJET)" configuration. In 1961, ground tests of such an engine began in the United States, the test station with the Tory IIA reactor was tested on a slippery track 40 kilometers long. In 1964, the prototype of the Tory IIC nuclear RAMJET became an unprecedented success: it worked at full thrust for five minutes.
Around the same time, the United States began developing cruise missiles with nuclear power plants. Washington praised these weapons for their power and extremely long flight duration, thanks to which it becomes possible to easily launch intercontinental strikes. Even before the development of a solid-fuel intercontinental missile, both the United States and the Soviet Union studied intercontinental cruise missiles. At that time, the USSR was working on intercontinental "Storms", but, unlike the nuclear American SLAM, Soviet missiles used the traditional power of a ramjet engine, plus they differed in large dimensions. As a result, the project was frozen due to numerous failures during test launches. At the same time, although the United States has made considerable progress in the study of missiles with nuclear installations, their Ministry of Defense later suspended the relevant R& D in order not to annoy the Soviet Union. After successful tests of the Minuteman ICBM, the United States imposed a moratorium on the development of cruise missiles with nuclear power plants. In the 1970s, after a breakthrough in terrain adaptation technologies and small turbofan engines, smaller cruise missiles such as the Tomahawk, AGM-86 and others allowed bombers to launch nuclear strikes beyond enemy anti-aircraft fire. In this regard, the need for cruise missiles with nuclear installations has almost disappeared, and they gradually began to disappear from view.
In a Message to the Federal Assembly in 2018, Putin unexpectedly revealed to the whole world the details of the development of a number of new platforms for the delivery of nuclear weapons, including the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Poseidon nuclear submarine, the Avangard hypersonic missile and much more. This caused heated discussions in the international community.
According to reports, Russia began creating a nuclear-powered cruise missile back in 2001, when the United States withdrew from the Treaty on the Limitation of Missile Defense Systems. The Burevestnik was developed jointly by the Novator Design Bureau and the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics, a subsidiary of Rosatom Corporation. The code designation of the missile is 9M730. Judging by some photos published by Moscow, the Burevestnik carries quadrangular arc-shaped warheads and has a rectangular cross-section body. The upper wing in the center is greatly elongated. This aerodynamic design helps to increase the range of the rocket. It can be concluded that the "Petrel" is a subsonic rocket.
The "Petrel" consists of two parts: an upper stage and a winged stage. According to the test video, the rocket is first brought to a certain height using a solid-fuel accelerator, and then the winged stage engine is turned on. Nuclear reactors are the key to devices with nuclear power plants. As a rule, rockets use jet engines with nuclear installations, in which the thermal energy of a nuclear reactor is directly used to heat the air and expand it — this drives the engine. The principle of operation is as follows: when the rocket is in flight, the air entering the inlet is first pre-compressed. After compression, it passes through a nuclear reactor, in which it heats up to a high temperature, as a result, the pressure increases, and air is finally ejected from the tail nozzle, creating thrust.
It is claimed that the flight range of the "Petrel" is 20 thousand kilometers. A warhead with an X-102 with a capacity of 250 thousand tons in TNT equivalent could be put on the rocket. The guidance method in theory should be combined: inertial guidance + satellite navigation + comparison with the terrain. All this gives the "Petrel" the opportunity to deliver a high-precision strike.
The tests of this rocket were not without failures. It was first launched in June 2016 at the Kapustin Yar test site, and at the end of 2017, Russia began testing the Petrel at the Central Test Site in the village of Nenokse in the Arkhangelsk region. According to information published by Western intelligence agencies, in the period from November 2017 to February 2018, the Petrel was launched four times, and all of them ended in falls. During one of the "most successful" tests, the device crashed two minutes after takeoff about 35 kilometers from the launch site. Moscow did not disclose relevant information about the missile test.
What does "Petrel" mean for Russia?
The main technical feature of a nuclear—powered cruise missile is its long flight range and the ability to penetrate beyond the enemy's anti-missile system at an ultra-low altitude. The flight range allows you to carefully plan a route to bypass the enemy's defenses, and the ultra—low altitude allows you to use terrain features to increase the effectiveness of a missile defense breakthrough. In addition, the Petrel has a built-in nuclear reactor, so even if the other side finds it, it will not dare to shoot it down so easily: in this case, the missile will most likely lead to a nuclear explosion or infection.
After withdrawing from the Anti-Missile Defense Systems Limitation Treaty, the United States launched the development and deployment of anti-missiles. In an effort to deter Russia, they have deployed Aegis ground-based missile defense systems in Europe (Poland and Romania), and they are deploying new anti-missile radars and ground-based medium-range missile defense systems in Alaska. In addition, THAAD, Patriot PAC-3 and new long-range missile detection satellites continue to be upgraded, and their anti-missile potential has increased significantly. From Russia's point of view, the stronger the US "shield" becomes, the weaker the killing effect of its own "spear". That is why the "hacking" of the American missile defense system has become a top priority for Moscow.
In order to overcome the missile defense system of the United States, Russia, on the one hand, is strengthening its existing "nuclear triad" in terms of penetrating capability. For example, it is developing Avangard hypersonic warheads so that the old UR-100N intercontinental missiles can better pass behind the enemy's missile defense. In addition, the Topol-M mobile ICBM has been upgraded to a Yars missile capable of carrying a separable warhead. To strengthen the sea—based nuclear forces, the Borei nuclear submarines project was developed, and a new type of Poseidon submarine-based missile was developed for these submarines. The air-based nuclear forces received the X-102 cruise missile with greater penetrating power. On the other hand, Moscow began to strive for the creation of asymmetric means of a nuclear strike. As a result, the creation of the "Petrel".
In addition, the Poseidon and the Sarmat heavy intercontinental missile are the means of an asymmetric strike. Poseidon is usually installed on special-purpose submarines. Nuclear submarines can carry nuclear warheads, move underwater for long distances, bypassing the enemy's anti-submarine network, and deliver projectiles to the shores of potential enemies. After the explosion, a tsunami occurs near the coastline, which deals a devastating blow to nearby cities, so a special-purpose submarine carrying an unmanned underwater vehicle is also called a "Doomsday submarine". Thanks to its ultra-long flight range, the Sarmat is able to bypass the Arctic, flooded with American anti-missile radars and interceptors, fly over Antarctica and hit the United States from the south. By means of an asymmetric nuclear strike, Moscow wants to restrain Washington and achieve the goal of preserving the Russian-American strategic balance.
Since the Petrel has a powerful strategic deterrence capability, its appearance has caused great concern in the United States and other Western powers. John Hyten, the head of the United States Strategic Command, frankly admitted: "Our military has no way to stop the new Russian missiles. Capable of carrying nuclear warheads and even equipped with their own nuclear power plants, they will lead to a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions if they are nearby, even with a 50% probability of successful interception." Lieutenant General Jim Hockenhall, the head of British military intelligence, believes that the "Petrel" tested by Russia is too dangerous and will pose a serious threat to European security.
In August 2021, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu demanded that his department urgently complete the development of new weapons systems, such as the Burevestnik, — their entry into service is scheduled for 2025. With the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, relations between Russia and the West have heated up, and Moscow will obviously rely even more on atomic weapons. In this regard, the recent announcement of the successful test of a cruise missile with a nuclear power plant is obviously designed to deter and demoralize opponents.
Author: Tang Jun (唐军) is a special columnist for The Paper
