American experts, using satellite imagery, have discovered a potential location for the deployment of the Russian “9M730 Burevestnik” cruise missile (NATO classification SSC-X-9 Skyfall) with a nuclear power unit. Reuters reported this on Monday, September 2.
Planet Labs obtained photographs of construction projects near a nuclear weapon storage facility in the military town of Vologda-20. It is located approximately 70 kilometers west of Vologda and 500 kilometers north of Moscow.
Analysts: Russia is starting to deploy new missiles
According to Decker Eveleth, an analyst with the research company CNA, the photographs depict nine launch pad building locations. These launch pads are surrounded by earthen mounds, which are divided into three groups. According to Eveleth, roads connect the mounds to missile repair buildings as well as a network of five bunkers for nuclear weapon storage. The analyst advises using this location for a “large fixed missile system.” According to Eveleth, “Burevestnik” is Russia’s only large-scale endeavor.
Jeffrey Lewis, a Middlebury Institute of International Studies researcher, agrees with this viewpoint. The anticipated location of the “Burevestnik” indicates that Russia is preparing to deploy the project after a series of tests.
There are no unanimous opinions
Hans Kristensen, of the Federation of American Scientists, is more hesitant. He acknowledges that he cannot make a definitive judgment because Russia does not typically install missile launchers near nuclear warhead storage sites.
According to Eveleth and Lewis, the deployment of the “Burevestnik” in Vologda would allow the Russian military to store nuclear-armed missiles in nearby bunkers, making them ready for rapid launch.
Russia has conducted at least 13 tests on the “Burevestnik.”
President Putin initially mentioned the development of the “Burevestnik” cruise missile in 2018 during a speech to the Federal Assembly. He called it a “low-observable cruise missile carrying a nuclear payload, with virtually unlimited range and an unpredictable flight trajectory.”
According to the American think tank Nuclear Threat Initiative, which cites US information, Russia conducted at least 13 “Burevestnik” tests between 2017 and 2019, with only two being “partially successful.” In August 2019, an explosion occurred at a test site near Severodvinsk, killing seven Rosatom and Ministry of Defense employees. According to analysts, the explosion may have been caused by a failed test of a “Burevestnik” missile.
In October 2023, Putin declared that Russia had completed the latest successful test of the “Burevestnik” with a nuclear power unit. At the same time, journalists from The New York Times analyzed satellite photographs and concluded that the tests may have taken place on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
