MIT researchers say they’ve pieced together how Russia’s Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile actually flies — and their read on it isn’t reassuring. NATO calls the weapon “Skyfall.” The Russian military has been testing it for years, with at least one catastrophic accident along the way.
The analysis, published Wednesday, June 18, lays out the probable flight mechanics of a missile that uses a nuclear reactor for propulsion rather than conventional fuel. That design, in theory, gives it near-unlimited range — the kind of endurance no chemical-fueled weapon can match.
“It’s almost certainly a terrible idea,” one analyst told NPR. “But it’s not an impossible idea.”
That distinction matters. A weapon doesn’t have to be well-engineered to be a threat. The Burevestnik’s nuclear propulsion system vents radioactive exhaust during flight — meaning the missile contaminates whatever airspace it crosses. It’s a dirty weapon by design, not accident.
Russia has never confirmed how far along the program is. A 2019 explosion at a test site on the White Sea killed at least five Russian nuclear scientists and briefly spiked radiation readings in a nearby city — an incident Moscow initially refused to acknowledge. Whether the MIT findings change any military calculus in Washington hasn’t been addressed publicly.
Originally reported by NPR. Read the original report.
