Skyfall - A Russian Nuclear Powered Cruise Missile

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On Aug. 8, 2019, Russian authorities issued a surprising announcement. Some sort of accident had occurred during a test of a missile engine near the city of Severodvinsk, along Russia’s Arctic coast. Two people died, and there had been a brief spike in radiation detected. Soon after, images and videos appeared on social media of first responders in hazmat suits, ambulances, and a helicopter for an emergency airlift.

The reference to radiation was striking—tests of missile engines don’t involve radiation. Well, with one exception: In 2018, Russia announced it had tested a cruise missile powered by a nuclear reactor. It calls this missile the 9M730 Burevestnik. NATO calls it the SSC-X-9 Skyfall.

Source: A Mysterious Explosion Took Place in Russia. What Really Happened?

nuclear powered cruise missle?

The powerplant would be more explosive than the warhead. Or maybe it wouldnt even have a warhead.

Nuclear submarines, and aircraft carriers, are really steam powered. The fission reactor replaces the burning of coal, or oil, to boil water which in turn powers the turbines which spin the ship's propellers like its a conventional steam ship.

But how does a nuclear powered aircraft, like a cruise missile, work? And wouldnt it leave a trail of radioactive exhaust behind it?

Maybe if your nation is being destroyed in a war you would being willing to pollute the environment that way to save your desperate ass. But still.. And it would be kinda hard to test the weapon in peacetime I would think.

According to the article:

A nuclear-powered cruise missile is an outrageous idea, one the United States long ago considered and rejected as a technical, strategic, and environmental nightmare. Vladimir Putin’s Russia, though, thinks differently.

Russia experienced engine test accident which produced detectable nuclear radiation release.

Rosatom (Russian state atomic energy corporation) admitted that five of its employees had been killed in the accident. “The rocket tests were carried out on the offshore platform,” a Rosatom statement explained. “After the tests were completed, the rocket fuel ignited, followed by detonation. After the explosion, several employees were thrown into the sea.”

How can I phrase this?

If THAT is the solution, then what is the problem its supposed to solve?

If the cure is a flying a nuclear powered cruise missle.. then ...the disease theyre afraid of must BE something REALLY bad- to be worse than that .

Cruise missiles fly very low and are hard to detect on radar coming in so they make very effective weapons.

There main drawback is their small size gives them reduced fuel capacity so they need to be fired within 500-1000 miles of the target.

That’s ok when it’s a small 3rd world basket case country like Iraq or Syria.

Larger more capable powers are a different story and getting close is dangerous for those pilots or sailors firing them.

In theory a nuclear powered cruise missile could fly for thousands of miles be launched from the safety of your own territory and be a better alternative to an ICBM if fitted with a nuclear warhead that can be picked up on space radar and satellite and maybe taken out by the both limited capability of the US starwars System or Russia’s S400/500 System.

They would also allow for a surprise attack either via a first strike or a secondary strike after much of the defense radars and installations have been taken out.

I’ve read Russian history and despite the fear mongering from the west Russian military is largely defensive.

Russia suffered a Holocaust in the 2nd world war loosing 20 million (about 3 times more people than were lost by the Jews in the concentration camps ) So naturally everything military they did from 1945 including occupying E Europe was designed to prevent that from happening again.

I appreciate it wasn’t nice for the Poles or E Germans but that was the logic behind it creating a buffer between themselves and Germany

Putin is an autocratic leader with a questionable human rights record but I believe that the US is antagonizing Russia by extending NATO so close to their border. They use their fear of their WW2 holocaust to provoke a response that they can use for domestic advantage like boosting the military industrial complex, that donates to both political parties.

Also it allows them to boost their influence by creating a kind of protection racket of an aggressor that needs to be protected against.

A bit like your older brother irritating you maybe giving you a couple of weak punches then you hit back and he says “mum he hit me“.