Two American researchers claim to have discovered in Russia the likely deployment site of Russia's new nuclear-powered cruise missiles - the 9M370 Burevestnik - which President Vladimir Putin has said have an almost unlimited range and can evade US missile defenses, reports Reuters, as reported by the Voice. America.
Images of an image taken on July 26 by the commercial satellite company Planet Labs identified construction projects near the nuclear warhead depots known as Vologda-20 and Chebsar as potential sites for the new missiles. The facility is located about 500 km north of Moscow.
Deploying the Burevestnik in Vologda would allow the Russian military to have these missiles available for rapid launch.
The finding of a possible launch site for the missiles suggests that Russia is continuing to deploy them after a series of tests in recent years that have been plagued by problems.
An analyst with the research and analysis organization CNA, looked at satellite images and identified nine horizontal launch pads under construction. They are placed in three separate groups, to protect them from attack or to prevent an accidental explosion in one from the detonation of a projectile in the others.
The Russian Ministry of Defense and the embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment on the discovery, the strategic value of the Burevestnik, the test results and the risks they pose. A Kremlin spokesman said those were matters for the Defense Ministry and declined to comment further.
Hans Christensen of the Federation of American Scientists, who also studied the Vologda images at Eveleth's request, said they appear to show launch pads. But he said he could not make a definitive assessment because Moscow does not typically place such ramps next to nuclear warhead storage facilities.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia will change its guidelines on the use of nuclear weapons in response to what it sees as "Western escalation in the war in Ukraine," state news agency TASS reported Sunday.
A 2020 report by the US Air Force's National Space Intelligence Center stated that if Russia successfully deploys the Burevestnik, it will have a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability.
Experts call Burevestnik a political weapon used by Putin to bolster his image as a powerful leader ahead of re-election in 2018 and to signal to Washington that he cannot dismiss his concerns about US missile defense and other issues.
But the weapon's poor track record and limitations raised doubts among eight experts interviewed by Reuters about whether its deployment would change the nuclear stakes for the West and Russia's other enemies.
Burevestnik has had poor test results from at least 13 known tests, with only two partial successes, since 2016, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a group that fights to reduce nuclear, biological and technological risks. Among the problems is an explosion in 2019 during a failed attempt to retrieve a nuclear reactor that remained operating at the bottom of the White Sea, a year after the crash of the prototype, according to State Department reports.
NATO did not respond to questions about how the alliance would respond to the deployment of the weapons.
Little is known about the technical details of Burevestnik. Experts estimate that a small solid-fuel rocket would launch it by injecting air into an engine that has a miniature nuclear reactor. Superheated and possibly radioactive air would then escape to provide forward thrust.
Putin unveiled it in March 2018, saying the missile would be low-flying, with an almost unlimited range, an unpredictable flight path and invincible for current and future air defense. However, many experts are skeptical of Putin's claims.
Burevestnik, they say, could have a range of some 23.000 kilometers.
The deployment of the Burevestnik is not prohibited by the New START Treaty, the last US-Russian agreement limiting the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons, which expires in February 2026.
Citing the war in Ukraine, Russia has rejected US calls for unconditional talks on a replacement for the New START treaty, fueling fears of an all-out nuclear arms race when it expires.
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