| Read the rest at the link along with lots of diagrams |
[BlackMountainAnalysis] On 26 October, Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on a test of the nuclear-powered, purportedly unlimited-range cruise missile known as Burevestnik (Буревестник “Storm petrel“). Designated 9M730 in the GRAU index and identified by NATO as SSC-X-9 Skyfall, Russian authorities have presented the system as capable of defeating contemporary air- and missile-defense architectures and of delivering a nuclear payload across intercontinental distances.
Western analysts and media responded to the Burevestnik tests with notable alarm and skepticism. Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear-nonproliferation scholar at Middlebury College, described the system provocatively as a “little flying Chernobyl,” calling its emergence “a bad development” for the United States and arguing that the weapon would be “destabilizing and difficult to address within arms-control frameworks.” The New York Times characterized President Putin’s announcement as “a stark signal to the West” following the collapse of a planned summit with former U.S. President Donald Trump. Norwegian military intelligence publicly confirmed that the tests occurred in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean; Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensenes, head of Norway’s intelligence service, stated that Norway “can confirm that Russia conducted a new test launch of the Burevestnik long-range cruise missile on Novaya Zemlya.” |