Russia announces successful test of Burevestnik intercontinental nuclear missile

The Russian Armed Forces successfully tested their new Burevestnik nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered intercontinental missile, the 9M730 Burevestnik, earlier this week, the Kremlin announced on Sunday.

Russia’s Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, who met with Vladimir Putin at a command post in an unspecified location, said that during its test flight the missile travelled 14,000km and was airborne for a total of 15 hours when it was tested on Tuesday.

Though Gerasimov did not specify the missile’s exact route or provide any other details of the test, he stressed that the long-range missile had not even been tested to “the limit” and said that the missile could be launched with “guaranteed accuracy against highly protected targets at any distance”.

Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, called Burevestnik a “unique product that nobody else in the world possesses” and proposed “identifying possible ways to use” the weapon as well as readying the infrastructure for its deployment by the Russian Armed Forces. The successful test had “once again proved the reliability of Russia’s nuclear shield,” Putin added.

Putin has previously described the 9M730 Burevestnik, which analysts believe to have an almost unlimited range and which uses unpredictable flight paths, as “invincible”, and as the missile is believed to be significantly smaller than other Russian intercontinental missiles, and its reactor requires relatively little fuel to function, the space saved can be used instead for a significantly sized warhead.

The recent launch would make it the third successful test launch of the missile to date, which US experts dubbed a “flying Chernobyl” in comments made to Reuters last year due to its poor prior record during test flights and the risk of nuclear contamination along its flight path during deployment.

Of its previous 13 known test flights, the 9M730 Burevestnik failed 11, with two others being judged “partial successes”. Until Tuesday, the missile had not been tested for two years.

The fresh test launch follows a lull in US-Russia relations after a high-level summit between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Budapest was cancelled last week after Russia’s reported demands for total control over Ukraine’s Donbas region as a precondition for any peace deal. “I’m going to have to know that we’re going to make a deal. I’m not going to be wasting my time,” Trump told reporters on Saturday.