MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia has tested a new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile named the Burevestnik, Russia’s top general told President Vladimir Putin in remarks released on Sunday.
The missile travelled 14,000 km (8,700 miles) and was in the air for about 15 hours, General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, told Putin.
Putin has said the 9M730 Burevestnik (Storm Petrel) – dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO – is “invincible” to current and future missile defences, with an almost unlimited range and unpredictable flight path.
In his remarks on Sunday, Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, told Gerasimov that the crucial Burevestnik tests have now been completed and that work should start on the final stage before deploying the missiles.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly ; Writing and editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
