It also has a very angular nose cone, suggesting that it may have some level of low-observability. Its immense range would already allow it to skirt defenses and avoid detection, but this could make it even more difficult for an adversary to spot it and try and shoot it down as it penetrates into contested airspace.

“The missile’s component makeup is being improved based on clarified requirements, while ground tests continue and preparations are being made for experimental flight tests of the improved missile,” a Russian Defense Ministry official told reporters on July 19, 2018, according to state-run outlet TASS. “In the meantime, launching systems are also being designed, while technological processes to manufacture, assemble and test the missile are being improved.”

It remains unclear exactly what sort of progress the Russians are actually making on this system. Previous reports, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, said that the initial tests had been failures.

More recent information suggests that the Kremlin may not even be testing the design with the nuclear powerplant yet, which would make sense. A conventionally powered version would allow the Russians to continue working on other aspects of the system and then integrate the new reactor-powered engine when and if it becomes viable. Still, we at The War Zone have already examined the potential hazards of doing so at all in detail.

There is also a question about whether or not the Burevestnik will violate the bilateral U.S.-Russia Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, which bans both nuclear and conventional ground-launched missiles with ranges between 310 and 3,420 miles. The weapon would occupy a gray area since it will be able to fly well beyond those distances, as well as being able to hit targets less than 3,420 miles away. The Kremlin could easily get around this issue entirely by mounting the final weapon on a naval platform, which the agreement doesn't cover at all.