“A unique creation with unlimited reach.” Vladimir Putin announced, on Sunday, October 26, a successful test of the Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile, called Bourevestnik, which means “storm bird” in French.
The Russian president praised this “unique” weapon, capable of flying up to 14,000 kilometers. The leader ordered the Russian military to begin “preparing the infrastructure to put this weapon into service in the armed forces.”
According to the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valéri Gerassimov, the Bourevestnik could even attack places at “any distance.” During the test carried out on October 21, the missile flew for “about 15 hours”, traveling 14,000 kilometers, more than the distance between Moscow and Washington (10,000 kilometers). But this distance “is not a limit”, according to Valéri Guérassimov.
An “unlimited” range for a “unique” missile
Furthermore, he added that the missile could be used with “guaranteed accuracy” against “highly protected sites.” Thanks to an unpredictable flight path, the Bourevestnik would, in fact, be almost impossible to intercept, making it “invincible” to current and future missile defense systems.
A cruise missile has the advantage over a ballistic missile of being maneuverable and capable of flying under and around missile defense radars and interceptors.
According to the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the Burevestnik is like a nuclear rocket equipped with a small fission reactor and also equipped with a solid propellant booster. Its launch length is 12 meters and its flight length is 9 meters. Its nose is shaped like an ellipse and measures 1 meter by 1.50 meters.
The Bourevestnik is “a unique creation that no one in the world has,” considers Vladimir Putin. The new Russian missile uses nucleothermal technology that allows it to be propelled by heating a liquid using a nuclear reactor.
According to Russian expert Pavel Ivanov of VPK-News, the mass of the Burevestnik would be several times, and probably ten times, that of the Kh-101, the Russian military’s cruise missile capable of reaching Mach 0.8. It has wings on its fuselage that give it the appearance of an airplane.
Therefore, in theory, this missile could attack the United States, despite the Golden Dome announced a few months ago by Donald Trump, who wants it to enter service before the end of his term in 2028. The American president reacted to the announcement of his American counterpart in the Bourevestnik, considering it “inappropriate” and adding that he should instead “end the war” in Ukraine.
The United States had developed a nuclear-powered cruise missile in the 1950s, successfully conducting full-power tests of the models called Tory II-A and -C. They abandoned the project, in part due to radioactive contamination produced by the deployment.
France, for its part, is working on a long-range ballistic missile project (but with conventional propulsion) for which the Ministry of the Armed Forces would be willing to commit one billion euros to allow the French army to attack up to a distance of 2,000 kilometers at hypersonic speed. It is ArianeGroup that will develop this “MBT” for land-based ballistic missiles that could be completed in 2030.
As the New START treaty, which limits Russian and US nuclear arsenals, expires in February 2026, Russia is raising fears of a new nuclear escalation.
Source: BFM TV
