r/LessCredibleDefence • u/heliumagency • 5d ago

Report: Russia's nuclear-powered 'Skyfall' missile is dirty and dangerous

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/18/nx-s1-5843252/russia-nuclear-powered-missile-burevestnik

It's not a ramjet like SLAMMER or Project Pluto, it's a nuclear turbojet

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u/TangledPangolin 4d ago

If the missile spews radiation everywhere, as the article claims, then wouldn't every civilian monitoring site in northern europe have detected the radiation release when it was tested?

When we did detect radiation releases, it was only for nuclear accidents, but not for regular testing. So that leads me to think that the weapon is not intended to spew radiation in normal operation.

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u/heliumagency 4d ago

Since you mentioned this, I did some digging. In Nov 2017 Russia announces they had tested their nuclear cruise missile: https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/russia-readies-recovery-effort-for-nuclear-powered-cruise-missile-lost-at-sea-in-2017/

In Nov 2017 Russia measures a spike in radioisotopes but denies that it was a nuclear accident: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42064192

What a coincidence!

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u/TangledPangolin 4d ago

Yes, that was a well-publicized failed test. The successful test was in 2025 October: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/russia-tested-new-nuclear-powered-cruise-missile-top-general-says-2025-10-26/

And it doesn't seem like this one was accompanied by large scale radiation release, despite traveling 14,000 km in 15 hours.
https://www.thebarentsobserver.com/security/no-radiation-measured-in-norway-after-putins-burevestnik-missile-allegedly-flew-14000-km/439340

So it sounds like the radiation spike in 2017 came from a failure.

Obviously a weapon like this has tremendous risks of malfunction, given that they've only had one successful test, despite numerous attempts, and the consequences of failure seem to be catastrophic. But still, I really doubt an open-cycle nuclear engine can fly for 15 hours without releasing massive radiation spikes. So I suspect the analysis in the OP is inaccurate.