Russia’s 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, designated SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO, almost certainly contaminates the atmosphere with radioactive isotopes during flight, according to a new analysis by MIT researchers Jake Hecla and R. Scott Kemp.
The study concludes that the Burevestnik uses a direct-cycle air-breathing nuclear propulsion system, most likely driving a turbojet.
In that design, outside air passes directly through the reactor core, is heated by nuclear fission, and expelled as thrust, with no sealed barrier between the fuel and the exhaust stream. Hecla and Kemp calculate that the exhaust carries radioactive isotopes of argon, krypton, and carbon along the missile’s flight path.
Good article by @gbrumfiel and @connjie @NPR doing solid reporting on an analysis by MIT scientists of Burevestnik, recreating the design, reactor, radiation and footprint, concluding that it is a dirty, slow, and inefficient system of dubious value. 1/5https://t.co/EDidYI4odJ https://t.co/amnnOssCxS pic.twitter.com/bTY1qdZ9x8
— William Alberque (@walberque) June 18, 2026
Using open-source imagery, they estimate the Burevestnik is roughly 31 feet long with an 18-foot wingspan and flies at approximately Mach 0.75.
The findings follow Russia’s claimed October 21, 2025 test, in which Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov told President Vladimir Putin the missile covered 8,700 miles over roughly 15 hours. Hecla and Kemp assess that flight as the first sustained test of a true nuclear-powered aircraft.
Russia has successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a weapon Moscow says can evade any defense system pic.twitter.com/faTZWp7FmR
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 26, 2025
The MIT analysis also revisits the August 8, 2019 explosion near Nenoksa, which killed five Rosatom scientists. The researchers assess it as a likely failed recovery of a Burevestnik reactor prototype that restarted while being raised from the seabed.
“It leaks radiation, making it easy to track; it’s slow and un-stealthy, making it easy to shoot down,” William Alberque, former director of strategy, technology, and arms control at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The War Zone.
Hecla and Kemp suggest Russia’s broader intent may be to mature the technology for future nuclear-powered surveillance drones or space systems, rather than field the Burevestnik as a near-term strike weapon.
