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On October 20th, CNN reported that it had analyzed satellite images of Novaya Zemlya, Russia, which allegedly show that preparations are being made to test the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed cruise missile.
The missile is claimed to have virtually unlimited range.
The images, captured by Planet Labs in September, show high levels of activity at a site known as Pankovo, previously used by Russia to test its Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, according to Michael Duitsman and Jeffrey Lewis, researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
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Russia appeared to pause testing of the missile after 2018, when it dismantled the launch site but “the new satellite photographs indicate that the pause is over,” they added.
“The activity and new construction are consistent with a resumption of test flights of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile,” Lewis and Duitsman wrote in a new report, noting that the images show Russia has rebuilt the site’s launch pad and reveal “large numbers of shipping containers at two support areas, including the probable missile checkout building.”
Oh, also: @DuitsyWasHere and I say images from @planetlabs show Russia moving to resume tests of its nuclear-powered cruise missile. https://t.co/lnZltyTlrh
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) October 20, 2020
According to experts, nuclear-powered cruise missiles development is a way Russia can avoid the New START prohibitions and achieve intercontinental range that can threaten any spot on the planet.
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This is according to Vipin Narang, a nuclear proliferation expert and associate professor at MIT.
“A nuclear-powered cruise missile gives a low-flying, radar-evading, nuclear-capable missile intergalactic range that can pose a challenge to national missile defenses,” he said, adding that indications Russia may be preparing another test show “how much our missile defenses drive their developments and how scared they are of them, not today, but tomorrow.”
They are also highly controversial “because it’s crazy to put an unshielded nuclear reactor on a missile to power it,” Narang added, noting that the consequences of testing this type of weapon can be catastrophic if something goes wrong.
Also, yes, he was cited as having said “intergalactic”.
Russia has previously stated that its nuclear-powered cruise missile is not covered by the New START treaty, failure to extend the agreement could lead to the emergence of an arms race between the two countries, according to Lewis.
“The arms control framework that secured the post-Cold War has completely disintegrated. If and when the New START treaty expires in a few months, there will be no limits on US and Russian nuclear forces for the first time in fifty years. In its place is a burgeoning arms race as Russia develops one doomsday weapon after another to defeat US missile defenses,” he said.
“The United States and Russia seem to be stumbling into a new arms race. This is one of a number of dangerous and destabilizing weapons right out of science fiction that Russia is developing to defeat US missile defenses,” Lewis added.
None of this has been confirmed by the Russian side.
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Poor ass people of USA: ohh noo Russian tax payer money at risk, war industrial complex is robbing the country!
Yeah I doubt the Russian industrial complex is billing $75 for a toilet handle!!
What did I tell you?
The funny thing is that these studies show that Russia was honest about its commitment to the Start treaty.
They stopped tests in 2018, as a goodwill gesture to the americans. Now, that it is crystal clear that americans want more nukes, they have restarted the tests.
Americans were honest too by openly getting out of these treaties, would be foolish to keep your own hands tied, when other countries luke China l, started an arms race.
“how scared they are of them” it looks the other way around. Obviously they work to evade your AA systems. You do the same with theirs, to the point of threatening Turkey because they have bought the S-400.
“because it’s crazy to put an unshielded nuclear reactor on a missile to power it”….nonsense. Nuclear doesn’t necessarily mean uranium. In Italy, our military researched piezofission, a method to use iron as nuclear fuel. It seems they had results and the research was classified.
There is lithium too. Thorium. And who knows what. So nuclear doesn’t mean plutonium/uranium contamination.
Even if the 9M730 engine is powered by Pu or U, it doesn’t follow that the exhaust plume will be radioactive. Reactor heat is passed to the incoming airflow thru a sealed partition – nuclear fuel doesn’t come into contact with external air and remains totally contained. Air doesn’t absorb ionising particles to become radioactive in itself, especially given the very short residence time of the airflow within the engine.
If CNN says it, then it must be true. They probably have sources who told them DT was there at the opening of the centre.
CNN would never lie, or publish rumours ffs.
“because it’s crazy to put an unshielded nuclear reactor on a missile to power it,”
Riiiight… and what makes this fucking idiot think its unshielded?
yeah.. a real “expert”. Should go back to waiting tables.
Russia spends 10% as much as USA for its military and produces far superior weapons; USA spends 80$ billion per year to incarcerate more people per capita than any nation in history, yet their cities are plywood jungles. Russia has closed 40 prisons and halved its incarcerated population in the past 15 years. USA does enjoy the most violent and violent crime per capita of all nations….the backward drug addled empire decayed and moldy will slither into the dustbin of history in less than 10 years