Vladimir Putin may be about to test a nuclear-powered cruise missile – dubbed the Flying Chernobyl – that can fly for days, according to analysts.
An influx of aircraft and shipping has converged in the Arctic in a telltale sign that a new experimental firing is expected of a weapon powered by its own atomic reactor, say analysts.
The ‘invincible’ Burevestnik missile – with a nickname inspired by the nuclear catastrophe that could be inflicted, much like the Chernobyl power plant explosion in 1986 – carries a nuclear warhead with an ‘unlimited range’ and is designed to fly for days at a time before striking the West, according to the Russians.
Norwegian defence analyst Thord Are Iversen said the movements followed the pattern seen during previous tests of Putin’s experimental 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile.
‘It now appears that everything is ready for actual Burevestnik flight testing,’ he told independent Russian outlet The Insider.
In the Arctic, two specialist Il-976 SKIP aircraft used to monitor missile trajectories and collect test data arrived at Rogachyovo airbase on the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago, reports say.
Satellite imagery also shows an A-50U airborne early-warning aircraft, four An-26 military transports, an An-74 and several helicopters at the base amid a suspected test of Putin’s Flying Chernobyl missile.
Civilian vessels previously involved in missile trials have taken up positions in the Barents and Kara seas around the Pankovo test range.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16078037/Putin-test-Flying-Chernobyl.html