The Skyfall missile developed by Russia is alleged to have an immense range which has been unheard of until now. It is designated as the 9M730 Burevestnik or Petrel based on the NATO code name. Russian media released images of it getting assembled in workshops.
Russia Develops Gamechanger Skyfall Cruise Missile
The Burevestnik missile allegedly has by a nuclear power plant that is exotic and intakes air like jet engines based on the claimed specifications. Supposed to have a special warhead and unlimited flying distance at Mach 0.9-1.0 that loiters until it attacks the Target, reported Bulgarian Military.
Western experts thought such a technical innovation was beyond the reach of Russian military technology when Vladimir Putin made these claims in 2018. It's not the same tune as the US spooks are monitoring what Moscow is cooking up in its newest tests regarding the Burevestnik. It might be reaching combat readiness earlier, causing concern, notes CNBC.
Truth of the Burevestnik's Immense Range
The exact way Russian engineers came up with allowing the exotic propulsion of the long-range cruise missile is yet to be revealed. A type of gas-phase nuclear rocket engine that utilizes air in the atmosphere to enable controlled combustion, unlike rocket engines.
The temperature of the mini reactor is always kept low by air. A catch is that the reactor will melt if it's not in high-speed flight or cooled off. Air keeps the reactor from meltdown, so it keeps flying to do that.
Experts on nuclear tech like Mr. Valentin Gibalov and military expert Mr. Alexander Goltz remarked the Burevestnik or Petrel is equipped with a rocket motor using solid fuel in starting stages of the flight, per Military Today.
Such a cutting-edge motor that outclasses western military tech is objected to due to atmospheric contamination and designed with a sealed reactor that keeps air from contact with the inner core resulting in minimal radioactivity.
Skyfall Dubbed as Flying Reactor
A military expert Alexei Leonkov from a magazine considers the Petrel a vengeance weapon against enemies of the Federation. He added it would be icing on top after ICBM warheads cause devastation to the enemies of Moscow in their lands. The Burevestnik will be the clean-up to demolish anything left after the initial attack and leave nothing alive, added Alexei Leonkov in Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
The missile has a database and navigation system to guide its flight. All objects are recorded in the memory to autonomously guide them with no human intervention that adjusts how high it flies too. While in flight, the computer optimizes how to approach targets without getting shot down.
The West has yet to develop such an arcane weapon system, but no information is intimidating to Moscow's adversaries. Even the US claims it will be completed by 2025, but the Kremlin has done tests. In 2019, an anomalous explosion was noticed on the north coast of Russia.
By 2020, some details disclose that it was successful but no complete reports. Several European countries have verified the data that nuclear radiations were increased and were artificial too.
Russia has now developed its next-gen Skyfall cruise missile with an advanced mini-nuclear reactor that allows immense range, unlike conventional missiles.
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