Russia may be preparing a new nuclear-powered cruise missile test, according to reports from the New York Times. In an article published this Tuesday, October 3.
the American daily evokes satellite images and aerial shots of a Russian base in the Arctic showing movements of planes and vehicles “similar to the preparations which preceded previous tests” in 2017 and 2018. The test could even already having been driven, underlines the newspaper.
The images show in particular activity on the launch site during the second half of September, the presence of a trailer truck the size of the missile as well as two Rosatom flying devices, used for data collection during testing, parked nearby.
Russian authorities also issued an advisory at the end of August inviting planes to avoid this “temporary danger zone” until at least October 6.
These tests would involve a nuclear-powered cruise missile, known as the Burevestnik. Little is known about this very long-range weapon, the mode of propulsion of which was however mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, when he presented it with five other strategic weapons.
The Burevestnik would have been the subject of 13 unsuccessful tests between 2017 and 2019, according to the NGO Nuclear Threat Initiative, cited by the New York Times. Several people, among the base personnel participating in the tests, were even killed in 2019 after the crash and then explosion of a missile being tested, according to American intelligence cited by the New York daily.
According to American officials, this cruise missile, whose theoretical range would be 22,000 kilometers, sufficient to reach the United States, has never flown as much as expected. The most successful test would have lasted only two minutes, for a flight of less than 40 kilometers.
Claude HATEGEKIMA
Rwandatribune.com