Here Is How Russia’s Skyfall Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile Actually Works

We have updated our Privacy Policy. Please review to learn more. By continuing to use our services, you agree to these updates.

×

Search for:

svg]:fill-accent-900 [&>svg]:stroke-accent-900">

svg]:fill-accent-900 [&>svg]:stroke-accent-900">

svg]:fill-accent-900 [&>svg]:stroke-accent-900">

svg]:fill-accent-900 [&>svg]:stroke-accent-900">

svg]:fill-accent-900 [&>svg]:stroke-accent-900">

svg]:fill-accent-900 [&>svg]:stroke-accent-900">

Here Is How Russia’s Skyfall Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile Actually Works

Researchers conclude the nuclear-powered cruise missile almost certainly uses a direct-cycle engine that spews radioactive material throughout its flight.

By Thomas Newdick

Published

Jun 19, 2026 12:11 PM EDT

Add TWZ (opens in a new tab)

More information<br>Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results.

Russian Ministry of Defense screencap

The TWZ Newsletter

Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.

Email address

Sign Up<br>Thank you!

Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Russia’s mysterious Burevestnik (also known to NATO as SSC-X-9 Skyfall) cruise missile likely leaves a trail of radioactive material in its wake, making the weapon even more alarming than was first thought. This is the conclusion of two scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who have recently published a detailed analysis of one of the so-called ‘super weapons’ revealed by Russian President Vladimir Putin back in 2018.

The report, from Jake Hecla, an MIT professor who covers aerospace and nuclear science and engineering, and co-author R. Scott Kemp, provides the most compelling analysis so far on how the Burevestnik is actually powered. Uncertainty around this has led to previous questions about whether Russia’s claims of nuclear propulsion for the weapon even stack up.

A view of the Burevestnik test site at Pankovo, on Yuzhny Island in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, with a missile launcher in the raised position. via X

First, it’s worth recalling what we know about the Burevestnik program’s development milestones, which appear to have been punctuated by accidents.

It is also worth noting that there have been previous efforts to create nuclear-powered aircraft and missiles.

During the 1950s, both the Soviet Union and the United States tested airborne nuclear reactors aboard strategic bombers, the B-36 Peacemaker and the Tu-95 Bear, respectively. Neither of these trials actually saw the reactors drive the aircraft’s engines.

Under Project Pluto, the United States studied a nuclear-powered cruise missile and got as far as testing a reactor on the ground in 1964, before the idea was abandoned. The Pluto concept of operation was somewhat different to the Burevestnik, with the missile intended to fly at treetop level at Mach 3.5 and dispense nuclear weapons at different points along its flight path by performing “pop-up” maneuvers.

Fast forward to 2018, and Putin disclosed the Burevestnik’s existence, when it was presented as one of six ‘super weapons’ that also included hypersonic weapons and a nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed torpedo.

1/6 Putin unveils six super weapons during fiery address. Most surprising was a nuclear powered cruise missile concept that would have nearly unlimited range. Read our whole story here: https://t.co/1q41PUOFWl pic.twitter.com/uwiHeDxYUK<br>— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) March 1, 2018

Soon after Putin’s 2018 announcement, the Norwegian-based environmental group Bellona suggested that a radiation spike in the Arctic that same winter may have been caused by a test of the missile.

Later in 2018, a U.S. intelligence report described the loss at sea of a Russian nuclear-powered missile during a 2017 test. The report added that Russia was expected to embark on a search and recovery mission to try to lift the missile’s wreckage from the seabed.

Then, in 2019, an explosion occurred aboard a barge in the White Sea, outside Nenoksa, killing five Rosatom scientists. It also led to a radiation spike in the Russian city of Severodvinsk, as you can read more about here. The explosion has been blamed on a reactor from a Burevestnik recovered from the sea, likely the one that was lost in 2017.

Last October, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, announced that a successful test of the Burevestnik had been carried out, high above the Arctic Circle. Gerasimov said that the 15-hour flight “is not the [maximum] limit” for the missile. This appears to have been the first long-endurance test of the missile.

Russia has successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a weapon Moscow says can evade any defense system pic.twitter.com/faTZWp7FmR<br>— Reuters (@Reuters) October 26, 2025

Hecla and Kemp agree that...