Vladimir Putin’s much-hyped nuclear-powered cruise missile is having trouble staying in the air. The Russian president announced the weapon in March as part of a package of new nuclear arms, but the unnamed missile has crashed four times in four months.

The new Russian cruise missile takes advantage of a nuclear chain reaction for power. According to CNBC the missile uses a gasoline-powered engine, likely a turbojet similar to the one powering the Kalibr cruise missile (see above, using its rocket booster motor) to achieve flight. Although details surrounding the weapon aren’t clear, the new cruise missile almost certainly uses the turbojet to help it achieve the desired speed and altitude before the nuclear engine kicks in.

The use of a nuclear engine theoretically gives the new missile unlimited range, allowing it to fly thousands of miles to skirt existing U.S. air defenses. So far, however, the missile has flown no further than 22 miles over the course of two minutes. Sources told CNBC the nuclear engine is apparently failing to start, causing the crashes.

When it was revealed in March, Russia's missile was immediately compared to the Pentagon’s Cold War-era Supersonic Low Altitude Missile, or SLAM. A low-flying nuclear-powered cruise missile, SLAM was made to fly a long, circuitous route over the Soviet Union, raining hydrogen bombs down on communist targets. SLAM was cancelled in part because it was simply too difficult to test. A crash-landed missile would spew radioactive debris, contaminating a wide area.

It’s not clear how much radioactive contamination is being released by Russia’s failed tests. A mysterious release of radioactivity in the vicinity of Russia last fall is thought to have been the result of the first test. This early in the testing, the missiles probably carry just enough nuclear fuel to demonstrate that the nuclear engine works—which so far, it does not.

At this point, with four consecutive failures under its belt, it’s clear something is very wrong. The last test was apparently in February, and it could be months before further testing. That said, the rest of the world would almost certainly appreciate it if Moscow ended testing such a dangerous, bizarro weapon.

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