Burevestnik: All About Russia's Nuclear Missile That Can Hit Targets In US

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the country has tested a new nuclear-powered missile in a speech that touched on topics such as nuclear weapons, energy, and the war in Ukraine. Mr Putin said that 'Burevestnik', which translates as "Storm Petrel", would make any country who plans using nuclear weapon against Russia think twice. If any country dares to do so, "such a number of our missiles would appear in the air that not a single enemy would have a chance of survival", said Putin.

What is the Burevestnik missile?

According to Al-Jazeera, the weapon is called Skyfall by NATO and many western experts have been sceptical about it, claiming that a nuclear engine could be highly unreliable.

It was first mentioned by Putin in 2018.

The ground-launched, low-flying cruise missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It could stay aloft for a much longer time than other missiles and cover much more distance, due to nuclear propulsion.

Mr Putin did not say when the latest test took place, but the New York Times reported on Monday that it may have been recent, based on movements of aircraft and vehicles at a Russian base in the Arctic.

Why does the missile matter?

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, quoting a specialist Russian military journal in 2021, had said that Burevestnik would have a notional range of up to 20,000 km, so it could be based anywhere in Russia and strike targets in the United States.

The same journal said the notional altitude of the missile was just 50-100 metres, much lower than a conventionally powered cruise missile, which would make it harder for air-defence radar to detect.

A 2020 report by the United States Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Centre said that if Russia successfully brought the Burevestnik into service, it would give Moscow a "unique weapon with intercontinental-range capability".

Development of the missile

It has proved to be a difficult task for Russian nuclear scientists. News agency Reuters said that the missile has suffered a number of failures during tests, including in 2019 when five Russian nuclear specialists who were killed in an explosion and radiation leak during an experiment in the White Sea.

Nuclear experts have long questioned if the missile can enter service. The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-profit security organisation, estimated in 2019 that deployment could be a decade away.