Russia's Burevestnik: A Nuclear-Powered Missile That Defies Convention

Russia's Burevestnik: A Nuclear-Powered Missile That Defies Convention
by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 27, 2025

Russia's latest strategic weapons announcement has reignited debate over one of the most controversial missile programs of the modern era - the 9M730 Burevestnik, known to NATO as the SSC-X-9 "Skyfall."

Moscow claims its experimental, nuclear-powered cruise missile has achieved a long-duration flight - a feat reminiscent of Cold War-era propulsion experiments that once bordered on science fiction.

The Claimed 2025 Flight

On October 21 2025, President Vladimir Putin was reportedly briefed that a Burevestnik missile had completed a 15-hour flight spanning roughly 14 000 kilometers, allegedly powered by a compact onboard nuclear reactor. The announcement coincided with large-scale strategic nuclear exercises and was presented by Russian state media as proof that the weapon has reached an advanced stage of development.

However, no independent evidence - satellite tracking, flight telemetry, or international monitoring data - has corroborated the claim. Western defense analysts note that previous Burevestnik tests have produced mixed results, and the Kremlin's timing suggests a primarily political demonstration of endurance and defiance rather than verified technological success.

From Project Pluto to Putin's Arsenal

The Burevestnik concept draws directly from Project Pluto, a U.S. program of the 1950s that built and ground-tested miniature nuclear ramjet reactors - the Tory-IIA and Tory-IIC - intended for a Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile (SLAM). Washington abandoned that project in 1964 due to the hazards of radioactive exhaust and the rapid improvement of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

When Putin unveiled Burevestnik in March 2018 during his annual address to the Federal Assembly, the presentation revived that long-dormant dream of a reactor-heated air-breathing missile capable, at least in theory, of unlimited range. At the time, he described it as a system that could "fly as long as you like," underscoring its symbolic as well as technological ambitions.

Trials, Accidents, and Uncertainty

Evidence of Burevestnik testing at remote Arctic and White Sea ranges dates back to 2017, though many early flight attempts were reported to have failed.

In August 2019, an explosion at the Nyonoksa test site near the White Sea killed several Rosatom engineers and produced a brief local radiation spike detected in the nearby city of Severodvinsk. Western intelligence linked the incident to a Burevestnik recovery or engine test, while Moscow described it more narrowly as an accident involving an "isotope power source." The event remains the most serious known mishap connected with the program.

How It Is Said to Work

According to open sources and U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency analyses, the Burevestnik launches conventionally using a solid-fuel booster before switching to a nuclear-thermal air-breathing mode. Incoming air passes through a small fission reactor, is heated directly by the reaction, and expelled to generate thrust.

This design would allow extended flight durations, but it introduces formidable challenges - shielding avionics from radiation, controlling heat and stability, and preventing contamination if the vehicle fails. Most experts, including arms-control researchers Jeffrey Lewis and James Acton, doubt the missile has reached operational reliability, emphasizing that no credible evidence shows successful sustained nuclear-powered flight.

Strategic Meaning and Risk

If Russia's recent claim proves accurate, it would mark the first example of a nuclear-thermal cruise stage achieving extended flight - something the United States never managed to demonstrate during Project Pluto. Nevertheless, the strategic advantages remain uncertain. Such a system could, in theory, evade predictable missile-defense routes, but each test would risk releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere. A crash, interception, or even a failed power transition could scatter contaminated debris over wide areas - a major environmental and political hazard.

The Continuing Timeline

- 2004-2006: Earliest budget references suggesting Russian interest in nuclear-cruise propulsion.

- March 1 2018: Putin publicly unveils the Burevestnik program.

- August 8 2019: Nyonoksa explosion linked by Western analysts to Burevestnik work.

- October 5 2023: Putin claims a short-range test occurred; no data released.

- October 21 2025: Russia announces a 15-hour nuclear-powered flight - a claim unverified by any independent source.

In short, while Russia's October 2025 statement revived Cold War imagination, the lack of corroboration suggests the missile remains more a symbol than a deployable nuclear system. The physics may be plausible; the evidence, for now, is not.