NATO sounds alarm over Russian nuclear “Stormbringer”missile technology

President Putin has confirmed the successful testing of the Burevestnik (“Stormbringer”), a Russian nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable cruise missile unlike anything that exists in any other nation’s arsenal.

What do we know about the weapon? What impact will it have on the global strategic balance? Sputnik reached out to a top expert to find out. and how Russian Stormbringer Nuclear Cruise Missile can help Bankrupt the US War Machine.

The latest successful test of the Burevestnik, a global-range cruise missile with a nuclear propulsion system, has been carried out, Russian President Vladimir Putin told attendees of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi at the Black Sea.

Today, we have almost wrapped up work on the modern types of strategic weapons which I announced and spoke about several years ago, referring his March 2018 speech to lawmakers, during which the president unveiled the Burevestnik.

Bit also other new strategic weapons designed to ensure global strategic stability amid US moves to surround Russia with missile defenses with offensive capabilities, and Pentagon planning aimed at neutralizing the Russian nuclear deterrent.

What this will give Russia a capacity for is to take a low-wielding potentially nuclear weapon and then use it to have it travel a greater distance, tens of thousands of miles, retired US Army Major Mike Lyons told US media Thursday, several hours after Putin’s Valdai speech.

This Burevestnik missile is normally a conventional cruise missile that’s used let’s say inter-theater. This provides a strategic view, though. Let’s say they have this in the Arctic, where they’re testing it right now.

They could easily launch this missile from that platform and hit targets in the United States, not using ICBM’s.

In 2020, then-British Chief of Defense Intelligence Lt. Gen. Jim Hockenhull warned that the Burevestnik has what is effectively a global reach and would allow attack from unexpected directions, giving Moscow a weapon with a near infinite loiter time.

Combined with the capabilities of the Poseidon, this would allow the Russians to hold the UK and its allies’ civilian and military infrastructure at risk of both direct attack both with conventional explosives and nuclear weapons, limiting options or raising the stakes during times of crisis.

Because the Burevestnik is a cruise missile, it should be able to mimic the capabilities of other cruise missiles to perform flights at altitudes as low as 50-100 meters, making it essentially invisible to enemy radar, and detectable only using satellites, and only during launch!

The cruise missile’s main selling point as a universal retaliatory weapon stems from its virtually unlimited range, measuring in days, weeks or months.

This means that such missiles can be launched and remain in flight over a holding area for up to several months, and can alter these holding areas at will. In this state, it would be extremely difficult to catch and destroy them.

At the moment, there are no systems that could reliably detect these missiles in their holding areas and destroy them.

And in the event of ‘X hour,’ if an order was received providing information about targets…these missiles could proceed to their targets and strike them, the observer explained.

The Burevestnik’s unparalleled range characteristics means the missile will be capable of simply maneuvering around air defense systems, traveling toward targets from a completely unexpected direction.

And thus becoming an effective new component of Moscow’s strategic deterrent capability in light of recent US attempts to neutralize other elements of the Russian nuclear triad.

Ultra-long range, combined with maneuverability, differentiates the Burevestnik from a traditional ballistic missile, which flies along a set trajectory, making it easier to intercept.

Cruise missiles generally can perform maneuvers, bend around terrain, go around buildings, structures, islands, continents.

And in the case of the Burevestnik, there are no limitations on flight range, meaning it can go around entire continents, oceans, and even circle the planet multiple times over on route to its destination.

This is a completely new component of our nuclear deterrent force, the observer stressed, saying it will effectively help turn Russia’s nuclear triad of ground-based, air, and submarine launched missiles into a quartet, leaving NATO and the USA defenseless.

As things stand, the observer emphasized that today, the Pentagon has nothing in its arsenal to counter the Burevestnik. Obviously they will strengthen their air defenses. But that will not be a guarantee that these missiles will not reach their targets.

It’s likely the USA will choose to create space-based means to detect such missiles. If one knows where such missiles are flying, it will be possible for any fighter jet to shoot them down.

But then it would be necessary to create a detection system, to build a system for the transmission of information – to radically modernize the entire air defense system of North America, probably Europe and other countries threatened by such a weapons system.

These are colossal costs in any case. And it may very well be the case that these costs significantly exceed the cost of creating Burevestnik-type missiles.

Many questions remain regarding nuclear-powered cruise missiles’ utility, according to the military expert.

Will Russia create a weapons system on the Burevestnik’s basis? Because the ability to launch a missile is one thing, but actually creating a weapons system, training personnel, producing these missiles, accepting them into service and operating them is another.

Another issue lies in the fact that the Burevestnik is the first system of its kind anywhere in the world. So of course there are certain risks.

But if we approach this question thoughtfully, carefully, and using all of our scientific potential, we will surely be able to create something unique.

Sputnik / ABC Flash Pointy News 2023.