Putin hails successful test of Russia’s nuclear-powered missile

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin this weekend reported the successful final test of a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, amid Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Experts say the very-long-range weapon aims to skirt Western air defences with its terrain-hugging and low-flying capabilities, but its strategic impact is likely to remain limited for now.

How does it work?

Putin announced the development of the missiles in 2018, well before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and declared a successful final test on Sunday.

Unlike classic missiles that are propelled by chemical fuel, the Burevestnik — or “storm bird” in Russian — uses a nuclear reactor.

The reactor heats the ambient air and expels it at high speed to generate thrust, said Amaury Dufay, an expert at France’s Strategy and Defence Studies Institute.

“This allows for considerably longer flight time and range,” he said. “It’s a bit as if you had a car engine that consumes less for each 100 km (60 miles)”.

During the last test on October 21, the missile flew for some 15 hours, travelling 14,000 kilometres, meaning it can easily reach the United States.

“Its aim is to fly for a long time, very low, between 15 and 200 metres (49 to 650 feet), which complicates detection,” said Dufay.

It might “take off in Russia, make a detour via Latin America and then reach North America via the south, through a side that might be less well defended by US missile defences.”

But the missile is relatively slow. Heloise Fayet, a French nuclear expert, said this would impact on its manoeuvrability.

What’s the aim?

The goal is to dodge air defences, including US President Donald Trump’s planned “Golden Dome” missile shield system, Russian analyst Dmitry Stefanovich explained on X.

Fayet said the Burevestnik could be used along with traditional missiles.

“With its manoeuvring abilities and unlimited range”, it could be used for “harassing and weakening missile defences” before strikes by more conventional missiles, she said.

What does it change?

Putin has ordered the infrastructure needed to put it into service but the missile has limited strategic impact for the moment, experts say.

“The missile is not yet operational — there isn’t for the moment any deployment infrastructure, no doctrine for its use,” said Fayet.

It was “an attempt by Putin to continue to exhaust Trump on the nuclear and missile defence issues. It’s in (Putin’s) interest to persuade (Trump) that he absolutely needs a Golden Dome,” a project that will require huge resources, Fayet said, branding the Burevestnik a “destabilisation weapon”.

Whereas the United States and Europe do not yet have a defence shield capable of intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles, Moscow’s new nuclear-powered missile “shows the Russians are still capable of innovation,” she said.

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What are the radioactivity risks?

Fayet said that the test did not appear to cause any radioactivity, pointing out that the “Norwegian radiation monitoring agency did not detect anything even though the test passed through its detection area”.

Similarly, stations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty did pick up anything, Fayet said.

But Dufay said he believed there would likely be some contamination.

“The missile itself is radioactive once the reactor is activated. If you get too close to it, you’re exposed to radiation, which means… you won’t be able to test it much,” he said.

“But in nuclear deterrence what matters is signalling, the credibility that comes from testing.”

AFP