American researchers have announced that they have discovered the suspected location of Russia's new 9M37 “Burevestnik” atomic-powered cruise missiles with nuclear warheads, which were previously called “invulnerable” from the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Putin said the weapon, designated NATO SSC-X-9 Skyfall, has an almost unlimited range and can overcome US missile defenses. Some Western experts question the claims and the strategic value of the "Petrel", pointing out that it does not provide additional capabilities to Moscow and that there are risks of accidents that could lead to nuclear contamination.
Using July 26 images from the private satellite company “Planet Labs”, researchers have identified a construction site next to a nuclear warhead storage facility known by two names – “ Vologda-20“ and “Chebsara“. According to them, this is the potential future placement for the new missiles. The object is located about 475 km from Moscow.
Decker Evellett, an analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, claims to have identified nine horizontal launch pads under construction. They are connected by a road to what Evellett says are most likely buildings where the missiles will be serviced, and to an existing complex of five bunkers where nuclear warheads are stored.
The place is “for a large, fixed missile system, and the only large, fixed missile system that Russia is currently developing is for the “Petrel”, Evellett said.
Russia's Defense Ministry and its embassy in Washington did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. The US State Department, the CIA and the US Air Force National Aerospace Intelligence Center declined to comment.
Hans Christensen of the Federation of American Scientists, who also examined the Vologda images at Evelett's request, said they likely show launch pads and other elements associated with the “Petrel”. But he added that he could not make a definitive assessment because Moscow does not typically have missile launchers next to nuclear warhead storage facilities.
The location of “Petrel“ in Vologda would allow the Russian armed forces to store nuclear missiles in bunkers, allowing them to be launched quickly, experts say.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said yesterday that his country would make changes to its nuclear doctrine in response to what he sees as a Western escalation of the war in Ukraine.
A 2020 report by the US Air Force National Aerospace Intelligence Center said that if Russia successfully fielded the “Petrel” in operation, it will give Moscow a “unique weapon with intercontinental range”.
At the same time, experts interviewed by Reuters doubt whether “Petrel“ will be a game-changer for the West and Russia's other adversaries, given the project's frequent test failures and design limitations.
Thus, according to Thomas Countryman, a former US State Department official, the project “is an extremely stupid weapon system, a flying Chernobyl, that poses more of a threat to Russia than to other countries”.
NATO did not respond to questions about how it would react to the deployment of the weapon.
Not much is known about the technical characteristics of “Petrel”. Experts believe it will be lifted by a small solid-fuel rocket to feed air into an engine containing a miniature nuclear reactor. Heated and possibly radioactive air will provide thrust.
Putin unveiled the missile in March 2018, saying it would be “low-flying”, with almost unlimited range, an unpredictable flight path and "invulnerable" for present and future remedies.
Experts interviewed by Reuters are skeptical of Putin's claims.
The location of “Petrel“ is not prohibited by New START, the latest US-Russian agreement limiting the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons, which expires in February 2026. It allows Washington to request negotiations with Moscow on the deployment of the Petrel. in it, but a State Department spokesman said there have been no requests for such talks so far.
One of the experts quoted by Reuters said Moscow could use the missile as a bargaining chip if talks were ever to resume.