9M730 Burevestnik

[4][7] This effort bears similarity to the discontinued US Project Pluto from 1957, which although functional, was perceived as too provocative, less effective than ICBMs, and presented radiological emissions that made scheduling test flights difficult.

The United States developed a SLAM nuclear-powered cruise missile during the 1950s, achieving successful full power testing of Tory II-A and -C but abandoned the project, in part due to the radioactive pollution that would result from deployment.

[10][better source needed] The cruise missile received the name Burevestnik (which translates as Storm petrel, a seabird) as a result of an open vote on the Ministry of Defence of Russia's website.

[11][12] According to US researchers Decker Eveleth and Jeffrey Lewis, based on imagery analysis of launch pad construction and storage facilities, the probable deployment site for the Burevestnik is Vologda-20 located at Chebsara, around 300 miles north of Moscow.

[16] Military expert Anton Lavrov, in the Izvestia article, suggested that the design of the Burevestnik uses a ramjet engine, which, unlike the more traditional propulsion systems for nuclear weapons, will have radioactive exhaust throughout its entire operation.

[18] According to James Hockenhull, the UK's Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), the Burevestnik is a "sub-sonic nuclear-powered cruise missile system which has global reach and would allow attack from unexpected directions."

[22] Nonproliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis and Federation of American Scientists fellow Ankit Panda suspect the incident resulted from a test of the Burevestnik cruise missile.