Launch Site of Russia’s Mythical Nuclear-Powered ‘Burevestnik’ Cruise Missile Allegedly Found

Executive Summary:

• Two American researchers claim they discovered the future launch site for the Russian nuclear-powered intercontinental-range cruise missile “Burevestnik.” This is unlikely, as it does not appear to be possible to build such a missile due to technological and physical restrictions.
• Since 2018, Russia has diligently tried to argue that it has a weapon that is unusually powerful and unbeatable, such as the “Burevestnik” missile, to instill fear in the West.
• Explaining why Russia’s leadership has promoted this impossible project is difficult, as it could simply be a strategic psychological operation from the Kremlin or the Russian elite’s ignorance and overconfidence in their understanding of physics.

On September 2, the mysterious Russian nuclear-powered global-range cruise missile “Burevestnik” was once again in the spotlight. Decker Eveleth of the Center for Naval Analyses and Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey reportedly discovered the construction site of this cruise missile at Vologda-20, one of Russia’s main bases for the storage of nuclear weapons. They classified this as a future launch site for “Burevestnik” missiles because of identified groups of high berms, which could be protection for missile launchers (Reuters, September 2; Foreign Policy, September 3).

The primary issue with this discovery is that a nuclear-powered cruise missile is hardly possible, with the main obstacle being physics. A nuclear reactor cannot be light-weight and compact enough to fit on a missile with all the cooling and control systems necessary to provide sufficient power for both a missile engine and onboard equipment. This would mean that the Kremlin is either conducting a strategic psychological operation to convince the West that it has developed disastrous nuclear weapons other than intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and old-fashioned strategic bombers, or it believes in these mythical technological theories and is spending Russia’s limited intellectual and financial resources on their research and development—good news for the West if true.

Since 2018, Russia has diligently tried to argue that it has a weapon that is unusually powerful and unbeatable, such as the air-launched hypersonic tactical ballistic missile “Kinzhal,” the “Burevestnik” missile, and the nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed underwater drone/torpedo “Poseidon.” The “Kinzhal,” however, has proven to be far less of a game-changer than threatened, as Ukraine has been able to down many of these missiles fired at them by Russia (The Kyiv Independent, July 4). Similarly, “Poseidon” is likely just a drone developed to replace Russia’s costly crewed nuclear-powered deep-sea special operations submarines, which are as much a danger to their own crews as they are to the enemy (Kremlin.ru, March 1, 2018; TASS, March 12; Gazeta.ru, July 1).

Within this context, “Burevestnik” looks as if it comes from the golden era of science fiction. The Soviet Union developed nuclear-powered energy and propulsion systems for spacecraft in the late 1950s–80s. For example, there was a series of nuclear-powered radar intelligence satellites and a project for a nuclear-powered rocket engine intended for deep space exploration (Biblioatom.ru; Elib.biblioatom.ru, accessed September 5). Although these systems were developed, the mass-to-power ratio is one of the main problems of all nuclear-powered systems. For example, the “Buk” space nuclear reactor had a mass of over one ton, including 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of highly enriched uranium, giving it 100 kilowatts (kW) of thermal capacity. This was converted into only five kW of electric power for the operation of onboard equipment, namely radar satellites aimed for naval intelligence. More generally, this means that the “Buk” space nuclear reactor was massive relative to the small amount of electric power produced for onboard equipment. The Soviet Union used satellites powered by this type of reactor because of a lack of advanced solar panel technology. For comparison, modern commercial microjet engines weighing only 10 kilograms (22 pounds) can give eight kW of electric power (Fusionflight.com, July 21). Simply speaking, what might be useful in outer space—as it can afford to be much larger and not have to combat air resistance—would hardly be relevant and efficient if it has to be launched from Earth.

The level of power necessary for a satellite’s onboard equipment would not be enough for jet propulsion in the atmosphere. The typical jet engine for a cruise missile has a mass of less than 100 kilograms (kg) and gives a thrust of 400–450 kilogram-force (kgf; a unit of force that takes acceleration due to gravity on Earth into consideration) together with several kilowatts of electric power for onboard equipment. The total mass of a cruise missile with an engine and 500-kg warhead is less than 1.5 tons. The hypothetical nuclear reactor, which gives a similar thrust and similar electric power, would have to weigh many tons (and must include a cooling system) and be the size of a rail car, as the necessary amount of nuclear fuel—hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium—makes other parts of reactor much heavier. Moreover, a cruise missile with such a reactor would have to be prepared and launched by a scientific institute, not by a crew of officers and soldiers, because of the complex technical procedures, training, and scientific understanding involved. The issue of comprehensive biological protection must also be considered, along with the issues of developing radiation-resistant onboard electronic equipment and other protective measures.

Therefore, the “Burevestnik” cruise missile would be impossible to build, and how it has been promoted makes no sense from the standpoint of physics. However, explaining why Russia’s leadership has promoted this project throughout the years is difficult. On the one hand, it could simply be a strategic psychological operation from the Kremlin, a component of the so-called “active measures” against the West to bring back a Cold War-era fear of Russian nuclear weapons (see EDM, May 13, June 13). On the other hand, Russia’s leadership could actually believe in the concept of nuclear-powered cruise missiles and therefore might be investing resources into this concept. This belief may be derived from the lack of expertise and the “technical esotericism” of the Russian elite. This can be seen from the recommendations of the current head of the Presidential Executive Office, Anton Vaino, who wrote papers about a device for a study of the “collective consciousness of humankind” (Elibrary.ru, accessed September 9; Spkurdyumov.ru, accessed September 9). This mindset suggests that many in the Russian elite have an inflated sense of their own intelligence and confidence in the belief that they can understand any complex topic, even those they have no background in. Additionally, very few in the industry are willing to say that the idea of a nuclear-powered cruise missile is impossible because no one is willing to put their careers and lives at risk in the Russian authoritarian system—not to mention that such projects promise at least several years of significant income for those that play along.

This author cannot provide a satisfactory explanation regarding what the construction site in Vologda-20 could be. However, the explanation could be quite simple, although not exciting. Since the first Ukrainian combat operations in the Belgorod region in May and June 2023, Russia realized that it needed to evacuate its nuclear weapon storage facilities from border regions such as Belgorod and Bryansk to locations such as Vologda-20, which would explain the activity there (see EDM, May 31, 2023). Nevertheless, more data about the current state of Russia’s nuclear arms is necessary to reach a proper conclusion about what the visible construction work in Vologda-20 actually means. If Russia does, in fact, have the ability to overcome the laws of physics and make a weapon such as this, the West must be all the more prepared to combat this threat by providing Ukraine with the aid it needs to protect itself.