Burevestnik: Russia’s Unlimited Range Nuclear Missile

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-30

[00:00:02]A nuclearpowered cruise missile with unlimited range, a new tool of strategic deterrence, a political toy, and a flying Chernobyl. And amidst the noise, fears and fantasies, the main question remains. What is it and what is it for?

[00:00:17]Hello Vaters, Sky here, and today we have something unusual. The Burvesnik missile.

[00:00:29]There will be no winners in a nuclear war. A phrase coined during the Cold War was true. In the face of destroyed countries and environmental disaster, it would no longer matter who struck first, who had the stronger army and the most powerful economy. Mutual destruction was guaranteed. Therefore, nuclear weapons could be used to threaten, but never to strike. The US and USSR lived in this Mexican standoff for several decades until they decided to deescalate tensions.

[00:00:59]Much has changed since then. The Cold War military insanity has receded, taking with it most of the vast nuclear and missile arsenals. Meanwhile, defense systems have advanced, especially in the United States, which spends enormous resources on them, including missile defense. And if the trend continues, there's a chance that nuclear weapons will at some point cease to be the ultimate deterrent. And then, who knows, with international tensions rising, someone in Washington might even begin to think that a so-called disarming first strike isn't such a crazy option.

[00:01:35]Moscow suspects such thoughts and began developing new deterrence instruments, both classic and exotic.

[00:01:42]They were unveiled in 2018. an ultra-long range ballistic missile, a nuclearpowered underwater vehicle, hypersonic and laser systems, and of course, an unlimited range nuclearpowered cruise missile, the 9M730 Burveesnik, also known as the SSC-X9 Skyfall.

[00:02:04]And like most modern weapons, this missile embodies the adage, everything new is the well-forgotten old. Its origins can be traced back to the 1950s at the height of the arms race when the US and USSR developing aircraft missile and nuclear technologies periodically crossed them. Nuclear reactors began appearing in aircraft designs such as the NB36H and 295 LAL and cruise missiles such as the terrifying SLAM and Buddha. But at that time they were not realized.

[00:02:36]Ballistic missiles were more effective.

[00:02:40]But while aviation programs were closed, many related technologies continue to develop. Nuclear reactors on ships and submarines are now common place. They also flew into space and today are considered the key to travel throughout the solar system. One of these keys, for example, is expected to be the Zeus transport and energy module, a space to capable of flying to other planets. At the heart of Zeus is a high temperature gas cooled fast reactor with a capacity of approximately 3.5 megawatt and relatively modest in size and weight. It is a shining example of what modern nuclear scientists are capable of and is also obviously of interest to the military who could very well find their own applications for the technology.

[00:03:26]Here, I must emphasize that all subsequent stories and descriptions are largely speculation based on scraps of information. So, if you think you're watching some kind of engineering fanfiction, you're right. Perhaps these ideas will be confirmed. Or perhaps not.

[00:03:42]We'll find out in about 20 years.

[00:03:46]The missile program was likely initiated in the 2000s under the strictest secrecy, but only began to emerge in the 2010s when unusual activity began at the Capar and Nove sites. Capinar is a missile test site, the birthplace of many heroes of the arms race. Nova, on the other hand, is a nuclear test site that has seen a lot.

[00:04:11]The S bomba, the most powerful nuclear bomb in history, exploded here.

[00:04:18]And it was Novea where in 2017, as announced, the first successful tests of the Skyfold missile were conducted, footage of which was shown publicly.

[00:04:28]Launches of course had been conducted before and after, and they were closely monitored by various countries, especially Norway, where a nearby nuclear missile attracts attention.

[00:04:39]There were also accidents. The most notorious of which occurred in 2019 when an explosion released radiation resulting in casualties and speculation that the Skyfall reactor was the culprit.

[00:04:52]Nevertheless, the project continued to develop. The climax came in 2025 when successful tests were announced during which the missile spent 15 hours in the air covering 14,000 km.

[00:05:07]Now that the missile is an accomplished fact, let's try to figure out what it actually is. In general appearance, the Skyfall is a fairly standard modern cruise missile, albeit quite large, approximately 9 m long and about 2 m high. It weighs approximately 3 to 4 tons. The Fuselage is designed in the style of modern stealth missiles.

[00:05:29]Trapezoidal with a vententral engine intake, folding wing, and a tail with three stabilizers. It somewhat resembles the Russian CA 101 or AS-23 Kodiak missile, but upside down. This is due to the missile's unique features. It's a bit unusual after all. Considering the stated test flight parameters, 14,000 km in 15 hours, and its general appearance, one might conclude that it is subsonic with cruising speed of approximately 900 kmh, similar to a conventional cruise missile or aircraft. Thanks to its nuclear power source, which consumes minimal fuel, the missile's range is measured in tens of thousands of kilometers and its endurance in days.

[00:06:14]So, the definition of unlimited range missile is certainly very pretentious, but generally not far from reality.

[00:06:22]Let's take a closer look at the power plant. It wasn't for nothing that we mentioned the nuclear heart of the space tug. Considering the obviously logical idea of using similar technologies, it's possible that the Skyfall reactor is related to the reactors of Zeus and Poseidon. They should have named the missile Hades. It would have made for a pretty good ancient Greek drama.

[00:06:45]The reactor is compact, fitting within the missile's fuselage dimensions, and relatively lightweight. It needs to fly after all and given the small size, weight and subsonic speed of the missile, it requires little thrust and 2 to three megawatts of thermal power should be sufficient.

[00:07:03]The engine itself is a mystery. Media reports have claimed that the Skyfall is powered by a nuclear jet engine, but without specifying how it works. Is it a turbo jet or a ramjet? And the air inside it flows directly through the reactor like on the slam missile or not.

[00:07:21]A direct airflow reactor is unlikely.

[00:07:24]While quite effective, direct contact with the atmosphere comes with a side effect. The jetream is radioactive. The downsides of this solution include environmental damage, which would impose numerous restrictions on testing and exercises, the possibility of tracking the missile by its radioactive trail, and who knows how it would behave if exposed to moisture and dust from the atmosphere. The most obvious sign that the reactor has no direct contact with the atmosphere is the presence of numerous radiation sensors in the region. In Norway, for example, during incidents, they recorded spikes in radiation. But during successful tests, they remained silent.

[00:08:03]This suggests that the engine's jetream is clean, meaning the rocket's core is insulated and uses a coolant, molten salts or liquid metal. The coolant is heated in the reactor to over 1,000° C, flows into the radiator, which acts as an engine's combustion chamber, transfers heat to the accelerated air, and then flows back into the reactor where it is heated again and continues in a circle. And the next conclusion is the engine is a ramjet. The obvious objection is a ramjet engine on a subsonic aircraft. Indeed, ramjets are used on supersonic aircraft as at subsonic speeds, they're ineffective.

[00:08:43]They burn a lot of jet fuel, but produce little thrust. And that's true until we replace jet fuel with nuclear fuel with its exceptional efficiency that can offset the engine's inefficiency.

[00:08:56]The next question is why invent such exotics when you can install a normal turbo jet? The main advantage of a ramjet is its incredible simplicity. It is just a channel with a combustion chamber and that's it. It's lighter and more reliable even during long-term storage and long-term flight. A turbo jet engine is a very complex mechanism that requires maintenance and doesn't guarantee sufficient reliability. Again, I emphasize this is all theoretical.

[00:09:26]Practice depends on the assessment of realworld efficiency, which obviously no one will ever show us. Next question. If the missile has an engine that was originally optimized for supersonic flight, why not make the missile supersonic right away like the SLAM, which by the way was supposed to fly at Mach 3, like the SR71.

[00:09:48]But remember the SLAM, a huge heavy steel monster with a reactor producing hundreds of megawatts and a price tag that even the US military budget, which in the 1960s was almost unlimited, couldn't afford. The subsonic performance of the Skyfall is a balance between strategic capabilities and modesty in design, size, and weight. An additional thousand km/h of speeds simply isn't worth it.

[00:10:15]Using a nuclear reactor provides another bonus for the missile. It no longer requires fuel tanks, freeing up valuable space for other systems. The missile's core carries its main payload, a nuclear bomb, the yield of which can range from several hundred kilotons to a couple of megat tons. A non-uclear warhead is unlikely. A strategic missile with a nuclear reactor, and the potential to contaminate the impact zone is too much for a conventional explosive.

[00:10:44]Behind the weapons compartment closer to the nose, the rest of the equipment is installed. navigation, communications, control, terrain tracking for lowaltitude flight, and everything else required for a cruise missile. Since the reactor located in the tail is hot and radioactive, and electronics don't like that, the forward sections have radiation shields and cooling. Not as powerful as those used in manned aircraft, but still useful. For the same reason, the missile would likely be stored separately from both the warhead and the reactor in the arsenal. When prepared for use, everything is assembled into one system. Considering that the engine and reactor are likely assembled into a single module, its installation could be similar to installing a jet engine on a fighter, a relatively quick procedure on modern jets. Afterward, the missile receives its boosters and is loaded into a shipping and launch container, similar to those used on other missiles, but with different dimensions and specialized functionality.

[00:11:46]Launch platforms can vary. Stationary as used during testing, mobile or perhaps even airborne. The 295 could in principle handle this if necessary.

[00:11:57]The launch protocol is a bit unusual.

[00:11:59]During launch, the missile's initial velocity and altitude are provided by a tail booster. This is similar to other cruise missiles. However, this one uses a nuclear reactor which requires time to warm up and bring the main engine into operating mode. Therefore, two more boosters are attached to the missile to carry it during this period. After their separation, the Skyfall flies under its own power in cruise mode, and in dangerous areas, it descends to a minimum altitude of a few dozen meters, making it difficult to detect.

[00:12:33]Next, we can describe why all these dances are necessary.

[00:12:37]First point, unlike other branches of the nuclear triad, the system is difficult to detect on the ground, even using space reconnaissance. While a topelm or YARS are unmistakable, a skyfall in a container on a transport vehicle is difficult to distinguish from conventional missile systems. And given its long range, which removes any restrictions on a launch site, it can be deployed literally anywhere.

[00:13:02]Second point, it's difficult to catch even in flight. Critics of Skyfall point out that it's not all that invulnerable, and that's true. Aside from its nuclear engine, it's essentially a regular cruise missile. Low altitude and stealthy, yes, but still a cruise missile. Not that difficult to shoot down. But its enormous range and flight duration make it unpredictable, which creates problems.

[00:13:27]When a launch is confirmed, defense mobilization begins. But most strategic systems, early warning radars, and missile defense systems will be ineffective. They are designed to counter ballistic missiles and will be useless against a lowaltitude cruise missile. Conventional air defense systems and aircraft will have to take over. Flying radars and fighter jets, which will have to fly to the interception zone, detect targets, and shoot them down. But where are these interception zones? Where are the missiles? And where are they going?

[00:13:59]Considering the size of the United States plus overseas bases and allies, it turns out that half the planet would have to be covered. Cover the skies over the coasts and the missile will fly to Texas from Mexico. Protect Hawaii and it will appear over Alaska. The same applies to flight duration. Keeping all aircraft in the air for several days straight is a highly challenging task for the Air Force of any country. The phrase finding a needle in a hay stack takes on a new meaning when you're looking for a 10- m long stick flying somewhere on this planet. To find and intercept all the missiles, you'll have to deploy enormous forces or ensure guaranteed coverage for priority targets and accept that everyone else factories, bases, and cities are potential players in a game of Russian roulette.

[00:14:49]However, the Skyfall shouldn't be overpraised. Despite all its military cunning and technical uniqueness, it's not a wonder weapon capable of solving all problems, but merely an addition to the nuclear triad. Like Poseidon, it's a second strike weapon, a finger of the dead hand, and a safety net in case the primary systems fail. The Skyfall serves more of a political deterrent function.

[00:15:13]No matter how powerful the initial strike, retaliation is inevitable. It also serves as a backup. If the missile defense system eventually reaches a level sufficient to fully defend against ballistic missiles, Russia will have a strategic carrier against which this system will be useless. Therefore, it can be assumed that Skyfall is currently more of a concept. It is unlikely there will be many of them operational and their potential will keep increasing to counteractive development of the missile defense systems. And yes, strategic par hasn't gone anywhere. It's impossible to describe the irony in the eyes of a board sailor in the middle of the ocean about to witness overhead a meeting between a skyfall bound for San Francisco and some new slam bound for Vbasto. There will be no winners in the nuclear war. I hope modern politicians haven't forgotten that phrase. On the other hand, the Skyfall isn't just a weapon. It's also a showcase for the skills of modern nuclear scientists.

[00:16:15]Ross Atom deserves congratulations on this engineering achievement. It's truly something to brag about, but they can't.

[00:16:22]It's a military secret. Hopefully, their talents will be put to good use in science and the civilian sector. After all, the only thing better than a device capable of reaching any point on the planet is a device capable of reaching another planet. And with scientific instruments, not a nuclear bomb. Comment what you think about this device and subscribe to the channel so you don't miss new flying adventures, fast flights on peaceful planes, and soft landings to you.