9M730 Burevestnik - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/9M730_Burevestnik

9M730 Burevestnik
The 9M730 Burevestnik (Russian: Буревестник; "Petrel",
9M730 Burevestnik
NATO reporting name: SSC-X-9 Skyfall)[1][2] is a Russian
experimental nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile Type Nuclear-
under development for the Russian Armed Forces. The powered
missile is claimed to have virtually unlimited range.[3] cruise missile
Place of origin Russia
The Burevestnik is one of the six new Russian strategic
weapons unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 1 Service history
March 2018.[2][4] The cruise missile received the name Petrel In service Under
(a bird species name that literally means "storm crier" or development
"stormbringer" in Russian) as a result of an open vote on the
Specifications
website of the Ministry of Defence of Russia.[5][6]
Maximum firing range Virtually
unlimited

Contents Warhead Thermonuclear

History
Origins
Development
Design speculation
Nyonoksa radiation accident
Operators
See also
References
External links
Satellite imagery of the launch site

History
External video
Nuclear-powered cruise missile
Origins with unlimited range (https://www.yo
utube.com/watch?v=Xr7alYwCznQ)
The Soviet Union and later Russia have been uncertain since the on YouTube
1980s to what extent their ICBM nuclear arsenal is nullified by
the United States' anti-ballistic missile system Strategic Defense "Burevestnik" cruise missile in a
Initiative,[7] proposed during the Reagan Administration and manufacturing plant (https://www.yo
commonly known as the Star Wars program.[8] This type of utube.com/watch?v=okS76WHh6FI)
weapon flies under the ballistic weapon shield and is part of on YouTube
President Putin's broader program to attempt to re-balance
Russian nuclear strike capability.[9]

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Development

The Russian defense industry began developing an intercontinental-range nuclear-powered cruise

missile capable of penetrating any interceptor-based missile defense system. It is said to have
unlimited range and ability to evade missile defenses.[3] A major stage of trials of the cruise missile of
the Burevestnik complex, the tests of the nuclear power unit, were successfully completed in January
2019.[10]

Design speculation

According to Vladimir Putin and the Russian Ministry of Defense, the missile's dimensions are
comparable to those of the Kh-101 cruise missile and it is equipped with a small-sized nuclear power
unit. The claimed operational range is orders of magnitude greater than that of Kh-101. As shown in
official presentation, the missile starts from an inclined launcher using a detachable rocket
booster.[11]

Pavel Ivanov from VPK-news states that the cruise missile is one and a half to two times the size of
the Kh-101, the wings of the Burevestnik are rooted "on top of the fuselage, rather than below it like
on the X-101", and also notes that there are "characteristic protrusions where air is most likely heated
by the nuclear reactor". According to Ivanov, the mass of the Burevestnik is "several times to order of
magnitude" greater than that of the Kh-101, which eliminates Tu-160 and Tu-95 as potential carriers
of the missile.[12]

According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Burevestnik is a nuclear thermal rocket with a solid-fueled

booster engine. The length of the missile is 12 m (39 ft) at launch and 9 m (30 ft) in flight. The nose
has the shape of an "ellipse 1 m (3.3 ft) × 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in size".[13]

Military expert Anton Lavrov in the Izvestia article suggested that the design of the Burevestnik uses
a ramjet engine, which, unlike the more traditional propulsion systems for nuclear weapons, will have
radioactive exhaust throughout its entire operation.[14]

Stratfor, an American geopolitical intelligence platform, assumes that Burevestnik utilizes a turbojet
engine and a liquid-fueled booster.[15]

According to James Hockenhull, the UK's Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), the Burevestnik is a
"sub-sonic nuclear-powered cruise missile system which has global reach and would allow attack from
unexpected directions". Per Hockenhull, the missile would have "a near indefinite loiter time".[16]

Nyonoksa radiation accident

On 9 August 2019, the Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom confirmed a release of radioactivity at
the State Central Navy Testing Range at Nyonoksa near Severodvinsk in northern Russia and stated it
was linked to an accident involving the test of an "isotope power source for a liquid-fuelled rocket
engine".[17][18] Five weapons scientists were killed in the accident.[19][20] Nonproliferation expert
Jeffrey Lewis and Federation of American Scientists fellow Ankit Panda suspect the incident resulted
from a test of the Burevestnik cruise missile.[21] However, other arms control experts disputed the
assertions: Ian Williams of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and James Acton of the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace expressed skepticism over Moscow's financial and

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technical capabilities to field the weapon,[22] while Michael Kofman of the Wilson Center concluded
that the explosion was probably not related to Burevestnik but instead to the testing of another
military platform.[23]

According to CNBC, the Russians were trying to recover a missile from the seabed which was lost
during a previously failed test.[24] On 10 October, Thomas DiNanno, member of the United States
delegation to the United Nations General Assembly First Committee, stated that the "August 8th
'Skyfall' incident [...] was the result of a nuclear reaction that occurred during the recovery of a
Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile", which "remained on the bed of the White Sea since its failed
test early last year".[25]

On 26 August, Aleksei Karpov, Russia's envoy to international organizations in Vienna, stated that the
accident was linked to the development of weapons which Russia had to begin creating as "one of the
tit-for-tat measures in the wake of the United States' withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty".[26]

On 21 November, at the ceremony of presentation of posthumous awards to the dead men's families,
Vladimir Putin stated that the scientists killed in the August 8th explosion had been testing an
“unparalleled” weapon: “We are talking about the most advanced and unparalleled technical ideas
and solutions about weapons design to ensure Russia’s sovereignty and security for decades to come".
He also noted that the "weapon is to be perfected regardless of anything".[27][28][29]

Operators
Russia

See also
Supersonic Low Altitude Missile – an American project to develop a nuclear-powered cruise
missile, cancelled in 1964
Project Pluto – the nuclear ramjet engine development program for Supersonic Low Altitude
Missile
Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System (Poseidon) – a Russian nuclear torpedo / drone
submarine, also built around a miniature nuclear propulsion unit

References
1. Panda, Ankit [@nktpnd] (20 November 2018). "Update from a source: Russia's Burevestnik
nuclear-powered cruise missile has a NATO designator – SSC-X-9 SKYFALL. (USIC also calls
this missile the KY30.)" (https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1064991343624237059) (Tweet) – via
Twitter.
2. "Russian nuclear engineers buried after 'Skyfall nuclear' blast" (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2
019/08/russian-nuclear-engineers-buried-skyfall-nuclear-blast-190813025930755.html). Al
Jazeera. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
3. Lendon, Brad (20 July 2018). "Russia shows off new weapons after Trump summit" (https://editio
n.cnn.com/2018/07/20/europe/russia-new-weapons-videos-intl/index.html). CNN. Retrieved
2018-07-20.

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4. Gady, Franz-Stefan (2 March 2018). "Russia Reveals 'Unstoppable' Nuclear-Powered Cruise

Missile" (https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/russia-reveals-unstoppable-nuclear-powered-cruise-mis
sile/). The Diplomat. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
5. "Россияне выбрали названия для новейшего отечественного оружия" (https://ria.ru/20180323/
1517078771.html) (in Russian). «РИА Новости». Retrieved 20 November 2019.
6. Osborn, Andrew (23 March 2018). "Russia names Putin's new 'super weapons' after a quirky
public vote" (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-arms-putin-names/russia-names-putins-ne
w-super-weapons-after-a-quirky-public-vote-idUSKBN1GZ1NY). Reuters. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
7. "Reagan's Star Wars" (http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page20.shtml). Cold War: A
Brief History. Retrieved 2019-09-26 – via Atomic Archive.
8. Lambeth, Benjamin S.; Lewis, Kevin (Spring 1988). "The Kremlin and SDI" (https://www.foreignaff
airs.com/articles/russian-federation/1988-03-01/kremlin-and-sdi). Foreign Affairs. Retrieved
2019-09-26.
9. Roblin, Sebastien (18 August 2019). "Russia's Nuclear-Powered 'Skyfall' Missile with Unlimited
Range: A Doomsday Weapon?" (https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-nuclear-powered-%
E2%80%98skyfall%E2%80%99-missile-unlimited-range-doomsday-weapon-74156). The National
Interest. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
10. "Tests of Burevestnik nuclear powered cruise missile successfully completed, says source" (http://
tass.com/defense/1045012). TASS. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
11. "Послание Президента Федеральному Собранию" (http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/569
57). President of Russia (in Russian). Kremlin.ru. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
12. Иванов, Павел. " "Буревестник" знает, куда летит" (https://vpk-news.ru/articles/52488).
«Военно-промышленного курьера» (in Russian). VPK-news. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
13. Александр Шарковский (17 February 2019). "Ядерный "Буревестник" стал реальностью" (htt
p://www.ng.ru/week/2019-02-17/7_7510_army.html) (in Russian). Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
14. Антон Лавров (26 February 2019). "Хвост "Буревестника" " (https://iz.ru/850008/anton-lavrov/kh
vost-burevestnika) (in Russian). Izvestia.
15. "Russia's New Arms Give the U.S. Room for Pause" (https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/russias-
new-arms-gives-us-room-pause-missiles-putin). Stratfor. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
16. "Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile could 'circle the globe for years' " (https://www.telegraph.
co.uk/news/2020/09/13/russia-has-nuclear-powered-cruise-missile-could-circle-globe/). The Daily
Telegraph. 13 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
17. Roth, Andrew (10 August 2019). "Russian nuclear agency confirms role in rocket test explosion"
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/10/russian-nuclear-agency-confirms-role-in-rocket-t
est-explosion). The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
18. Kramer, Andrew E. (10 August 2019). "Russia Confirms Radioactive Materials Were Involved in
Deadly Blast" (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/10/world/europe/russia-explosion-radiation.html).
The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
19. "Russia's top nuclear official says work on new weapons will continue" (https://www.presstv.com/D
etail/2019/08/13/603398/Russia-new-weapons-nuclear-scientists-Rosatom). Press TV. 13 August
2019. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
20. "Russian scientists killed in missile test explosion were working on 'new weapons' " (https://thedef
ensepost.com/2019/08/12/russia-missile-test-scientists-weapon/). The Defense Post. 12 August
2019. Retrieved 2019-08-16.

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21. Landay, Jonathan (10 August 2019). "U.S.-based experts suspect Russia blast involved nuclear-
powered missile" (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-blast-usa-idUSKCN1UZ2H5).
Reuters. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190811085231/https://www.reuters.com/article/
us-russia-blast-usa-idUSKCN1UZ2H5) from the original on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
22. "Is Russia's Doomsday Missile Fake News?" (https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/22/is-russias-doo
msday-missile-fake-news-putin-hypersonic-nuclear-cruise-moscow-kremlin/). Foreign Policy. 22
August 2019.
23. Michael Kofman (15 August 2019). "Mystery explosion at Nenoksa test site: it's probably not
Burevestnik" (https://russianmilitaryanalysis.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/mystery-explosion-at-nen
oksa-test-site-its-probably-not-burevestnik/).
24. Macias, Amanda (21 August 2019). "US intel report says mysterious Russian explosion was
triggered by recovery mission of nuclear-powered missile, not a test" (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/
08/29/intel-says-russian-explosion-was-not-from-nuclear-powered-missile-test.html). CNBC.
Retrieved 11 October 2019.
25. "2019 UN General Assembly First Committee of the United States of America General Debate
Statement by Thomas G. DiNanno" (http://statements.unmeetings.org/media2/21998264/united-st
ates.pdf) (PDF). statements.unmeetings.org. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
26. Kramer, Andrew E. (26 August 2019). "Russia Identifies 4 Radioactive Isotopes From Nuclear
Accident" (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/world/europe/russia-radiation-accident-isotopes.h
tml). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
27. "Putin vows to perfect mystery rocket after engine blast" (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe
-50514306). BBC. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
28. "Putin Says 'Unparalleled' Weapons Tested at Deadly Nuclear Accident Site" (https://www.themos
cowtimes.com/2019/11/22/putin-says-unparalleled-weapons-tested-at-deadly-nuclear-accident-sit
e-a68274). The Moscow Times. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
29. "Путин рассказал о погибших в Северодвинске, создававших уникальное оружие" (https://ria.
ru/20191121/1561433888.html). RIA Novosti (in Russian). 21 November 2019. Retrieved
25 November 2019.

External links
Digges, Charles (12 August 2019). "Russia says small nuclear reactor blew up in deadly Arctic
accident" (https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2019-08-russia-says-small-nuclear-reactor-ble
w-up-in-deadly-arctic-accident). Bellona Foundation.
Digges, Charles (19 August 2019). "Russian doctors not warned patients came from mysterious
radioactive blast, says report" (https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2019-08-russian-doctors-n
ot-warned-patients-were-from-mysterious-radioactive-blast-says-report). Bellona Foundation.
Digges, Charles (20 August 2019). "Russian radiation detectors went dark in wake of mysterious
explosion" (https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2019-08-russian-radiation-detectors-went-dark
-in-wake-of-mysterious-explosion). Bellona Foundation.
"Ракета 9М730 / Крылатая ракета с ЯЭУ" (http://militaryrussia.ru/blog/topic-895.html).
militaryrussia.ru (in Russian). 4 March 2018.
"Крылатая ракета неограниченной дальности с ядерной энергетической установкой" (http://v
ote.mil.ru/vote/krnd.htm) [Nuclear-powered cruise missile with unlimited range] (in Russian). -
MoD of the Russian Federation official website.

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