US researchers have found what appears to be the launch site for Russia’s new nuclear-powered missile that Russian President Vladimir Putin calls ‘invincible’.
Two American researchers identified a potential deployment location for the 9M730 Burevestnik at a facility 295 miles north of Moscow, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Aerial photos taken by the satellite firm Planet Labs on July 26 capture what is believed to be a project under construction at a nuclear warhead storage facility known as both Chebsara and Vologda-20.
The images show nine launch pads being built in a horizontal position in three groups, according to Decker Eveleth, an analyst with the independent national security analysis organization CNA.
They are at a place ‘for a large, fixed missile system and the only large, fixed missile system’ and the new weapon is the only one of that kind that Russia is actively developing, said Eveleth.
The supposed launch pads are protected by high berms designed to guard against one of them accidentally detonating and setting off the rest, or an outside attack, he said.
Roads appear to connect the berms to buildings where the missiles could be worked on.
The roads seem to also lead to the known storage bunkers housing five nuclear warheads.
The 9M370 Burevestnik was unveiled by Putin in 2018 and can apparently carry a nuclear warhead for an unlimited range since it has a nuclear-powered engine.
It could travel a distance of up to 12,400 miles, meaning it could strike anywhere in the world from Russia, per the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
NATO has dubbed it the SSC-X-9 Skyfall.
The still mysterious missile has had testing failures including an instance in 2019, when a recovery attempt led to an explosion that leaked radiation into the White Sea and killed at least five Russian nuclear specialists. That disaster led to it being nicknamed the ‘flying Chernobyl’.
Putin has boasted that the 9M370 Burevestnik is ‘without equal in the world’.
But at least 13 tests of the missile have ended with technical difficulties or with deadly or safety-concerning results.
Some experts in the west believe the missile is a decade away from being able to be deployed.
Spokespeople with the Kremlin, the US State Department, the CIA, the US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have not yet commented on American researchers claiming to find the launch site.
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