What a mysterious explosion tells us about Russia's 'doomsday weapon'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

An explosion. An abruptly-canceled village evacuation. Five dead nuclear experts. And a few traces of radioactive iodine in the air over the northern Norwegian coastline.

These are the fingerprints of what appears to have been Russia's latest failed bid to test its Burevestnik missile, also known as Skyfall.

It's claimed by its owner, Russian President Vladimir Putin, to have unlimited range and be able to outflank all US air defenses. But this month, it proved, for a Kremlin keen to emphasize its growing military muscle, yet another high-profile hiccup.

It wouldn't be the first time that a test of the missile wasn't entirely successful, according to US officials.

But what is Skyfall? In truth, analysts don't really know, but their guesswork leads them to believe it's a form of cruise missile designed around a nuclear reactor.

The spiking of radiation levels in the area, potentially reaching as far away as Norway, lends credibility to the theories.

-snip-

Jon Hawkes, associate director of land warfare at Jane's IHS Markit, said the system could work one of two ways. It could be an "air-breathing engine employing a small nuclear reactor core to heat incoming air that is expelled to generate thrust."

Or it could be a "nuclear thermal rocket engine, where the nuclear core is used to heat a liquid fuel such as hydrogen before expelling it through a nozzle to produce thrust."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/what-a-mysterious-explosion-tells-us-about-russias-doomsday-weapon/ar-AAFVFiU?li=BBnb7Kz

[theophilus]

1. Well, if they get the Doomsday thing up and running I hope they tell everyone.

I've heard that such a thing would not do any good if it was kept secret.

[nuxvomica]

3. I hear ya

[Hortensis]

2. I've been wondering if we caused the failure

of that test. Or one of our allies. It seems highly unlikely that our intelligence services, which include the kind of people who could create these systems, don’t have a good idea of just what this is.