Demystifying Skyfall: Russia's Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile Explained

1. Introduction: The "Invincible" Weapon

In a March 2018 address, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a new generation of "invincible" strategic weapons designed to render U.S. defenses obsolete. Among them was a revolutionary and deeply controversial system: the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, known by its NATO codename, SSC-X-9 Skyfall.

The missile's core concept is as ambitious as it is alarming: a cruise missile powered by its own miniature nuclear reactor. This would theoretically give it an almost unlimited range, allowing it to loiter in the air for days, take unpredictable routes to bypass defenses, and strike targets anywhere on the globe.

This raises a central question that has perplexed defense analysts worldwide: Is the Burevestnik a revolutionary game-changer that ensures Russia's strategic security, or is it a dangerous and impractical "flying Chernobyl" that poses a threat to the entire planet?

This article will break down the technology, strategy, and immense risks associated with Russia's pursuit of this exotic weapon.

2. What is the Burevestnik Missile?

The 9M730 Burevestnik is an experimental, ground-launched, nuclear-powered cruise missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead. Its purpose is to provide Russia with a guaranteed retaliatory strike capability that can penetrate any existing or future missile defense system.

Its key advertised features are designed to overcome the limitations of traditional ballistic and cruise missiles:

1. Nuclear-Powered Propulsion: The missile's most defining feature is its miniature nuclear reactor. This theoretically provides the energy for indefinite flight, far surpassing conventional missiles which are limited by the amount of fuel they can carry.
2. Intercontinental Range: The nuclear engine theoretically grants it an intercontinental range of up to 15,000 miles (23,000 km), far surpassing conventional missiles. However, its longest reported test flight was a more modest 14,000 km (approx. 8,700 miles).
3. Low-Altitude Flight: By flying low, the missile is intended to stay below the detection threshold of many ground-based and space-based radar systems, making it difficult to track.
4. Evasive Flight Paths: Unlike ballistic missiles with predictable trajectories, the Burevestnik's extended flight time would allow it to navigate around known defense systems, approaching a target from unexpected angles.

This combination of advertised features hinges on a propulsion system unlike any other—a miniature nuclear reactor. But turning this theoretical advantage into a functional engine is where the engineering ambition meets a daunting reality.

3. A Flying Nuclear Reactor: How Does It Work?

The Burevestnik's propulsion system is fundamentally different from that of any operational missile today. It relies on a two-stage process to achieve and sustain flight:

1. Initial Launch: The missile is first launched into the air using conventional solid-fuel boosters, similar to many other missiles. This gets it off the ground and to a sufficient speed and altitude.
2. Nuclear-Powered Cruise: Once airborne, its miniature nuclear reactor activates. The reactor generates immense heat, which is used to superheat incoming air, likely within a ramjet or turbojet engine design. This superheated air is then expelled as exhaust, generating thrust to sustain flight.

This design contrasts sharply with conventional cruise missiles, which are essentially pilotless jets carrying a finite amount of fuel. Once their fuel is spent, their flight ends. By carrying its own power source—the nuclear reactor—the Burevestnik is, in theory, limited only by the mechanical reliability of its components, not by fuel.

4. Russia's Rationale: Why Build Such a Weapon?

Russia's development of the Burevestnik is driven by a deep-seated strategic calculus rooted in its post-Cold War security concerns. Moscow hopes to achieve several goals that, in its view, would make the missile a game-changer.

1. To Defeat U.S. Missile Defenses: A primary driver is Russia's deep-seated security concern that advancing U.S. missile defense capabilities could undermine its nuclear deterrent. President Putin has explicitly cited the 2002 U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty as a key justification for developing weapons that can bypass such defenses.
2. To Ensure a "Second-Strike" Capability: The ability to absorb a nuclear attack and still deliver a devastating response is the cornerstone of nuclear deterrence. A weapon like Burevestnik, capable of loitering undetected for extended periods, is seen as a guaranteed way to preserve this capability, ensuring that retaliation is always possible.
3. To Gain a Geopolitical Edge: Experts see these exotic weapons as a way for Putin to project Russia's great-power status and signal technological prowess. Crucially, with arms control treaties like New START expiring, these non-standard systems may be intended as bargaining chips to create leverage in future arms control negotiations.

While these goals are clear from a Russian perspective, the pursuit of such a weapon has been fraught with catastrophic failures and presents dangers that many believe transform it from a game-changer into a "flying Chernobyl."

5. High Risk, Low Reward? The "Flying Chernobyl" Problem

Despite its ambitious design, the Burevestnik program has a deeply troubled history, leading many experts to question its viability and safety. Its "flying Chernobyl" nickname highlights the extreme risks associated with its development and potential deployment, which appear to far outweigh its stated benefits.

Stated Capabilities & Goals	Observed Flaws & Dangers
Goal: To be "invincible" by evading all current and future missile defenses.	Vulnerable to Interception: Its subsonic speed makes it much slower than intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), giving defense systems more time to track and shoot it down. Furthermore, Russia's own arsenal contains more effective systems like the Sarmat ICBM, which is faster and harder to intercept, raising expert questions about the Burevestnik's true utility. Analyst Hans Kristensen notes it is "as vulnerable as any cruise missile."
Goal: To achieve unlimited range with a reliable nuclear reactor.	Catastrophic Failures: The program has a deeply troubled test history. Of 13 known tests between 2017-2019, most ended in failure. In 2019, a missile crashed into the White Sea, causing a catastrophic explosion that killed several Russian scientists.
Goal: To gain a strategic advantage and ensure security.	Extreme Safety Hazard: Nicknamed a "flying Chernobyl," the missile's unshielded reactor would spew radioactive material along its entire flight path. A crash, malfunction, or successful interception would create a severe radiological disaster, threatening Russia as much as any adversary. As former U.S. official Thomas Countryman stated, it is "a uniquely stupid weapon system, a flying Chernobyl that poses more threat to Russia than to other countries."

This high-risk, low-reward profile is not a new problem in nuclear engineering; in fact, the United States stared into the same technological abyss over 60 years ago and chose to step back from the brink.

6. A Cold War Ghost: The U.S. 'Project Pluto' Precedent

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States pursued its own version of a nuclear-powered cruise missile under a top-secret program called Project Pluto. The goal was to create the Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile (SLAM), a weapon designed to fly under enemy radar for thousands of miles.

Like the Burevestnik, SLAM was to be powered by a nuclear ramjet engine. The U.S. successfully built and tested the engine on the ground. However, the Pentagon abandoned the project in 1964 because it was deemed too provocative and dangerously indiscriminate. Its design was particularly chilling: SLAM was intended to carry fourteen to twenty-six nuclear warheads, which it could drop at different points of its flight path before crashing itself into a final target.

The core problem was SLAM's unshielded reactor, which would have spewed massive amounts of radiation along its flight path, irradiating friendly, neutral, and enemy territory alike. This made it a radiological weapon even without its warheads, and American planners concluded it was simply too dangerous to test, let alone deploy.

7. Conclusion: A Paper Tiger or a Global Threat?

The Burevestnik missile embodies a central conflict: Russia's ambitious strategic goal of ensuring its deterrent versus the immense technical, practical, and safety failures of the program. While Putin touts it as an "invincible" superweapon, many Western experts view it with deep skepticism, questioning its military utility and highlighting its catastrophic risks.

The Burevestnik is not a wonder weapon, and the challenges it poses for NATO security are neither new nor unmanageable.

— Decker Eveleth, CNA research analyst

Ultimately, whether the Burevestnik is a paper tiger or a future threat, its development alone serves as a dangerous catalyst, accelerating a new arms race and reviving a radiological terror that the world wisely abandoned decades ago.