The "mysterious" new Russian "Burevestnik" cruise missile with a nuclear power plant poses a greater threat than previously thought. This was reported by The War Zone (TWZ).
According to the authors of the study, the most probable explanation for the declared unlimited flight range is the use of an open-cycle nuclear ramjet propulsion system.
In the case of "Burevestnik", the traditional combustion chamber is replaced by a compact nuclear reactor. Air passes through or near the reactor, is heated to very high temperatures, and then ejected through a nozzle.
According to the analysis, if the missile indeed uses such a scheme, then the incoming atmospheric air comes into contact with the elements of the propulsion system located in the zone of intense radiation exposure.
After this, the heated air is ejected through the nozzle, which can potentially lead to the spread of radioactive particles and isotopes in the atmosphere throughout the flight.
It should be recalled that at the end of October 2025, it became known about the completion of tests of the "Burevestnik" with a nuclear power plant. During the first launch, the missile covered 14 thousand km, and there are no analogues in the world.
Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center, noted that the creation of "Burevestnik" was the result of research by domestic scientists, which began in the late 1940s.
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