In October last year, Russia announced the successful test of its 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, also known as the NATO codename SSC-X-9 Skyfall. Skyfall uses nuclear power as a propellant instead of conventional fuel. In the test, Skyfall flew for 15 hours, covering 14,000 kilometers. That's the distance from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles.
This is a distance that only intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) can reach. The Tomahawk cruise missile, which was used during the Gulf War, can only fly up to 2,400 kilometers. When operational, it can be equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads.
Jake Hecla and R. Scott Kemp, two researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have published an analysis of how Skyfall works. First of all, they agree that the success announced by Russia is valid, making Skyfall the first air vehicle to fly entirely using nuclear power.
The bad news in the published report is that Skyfall may use a nuclear core that is directly exposed to the air flow. Air is fed into a turbojet engine with a nuclear core. The air heats up as it passes through the air holes of the nuclear core to produce thrust. Therefore, the hot air from the rear turbine of the Skyfall engine releases dangerous radioactive materials.
In the same analysis, Skyfall was also found to have a disadvantage because it can only fly at a speed of Mach 0.75 (926 km/h). This allows it to be repelled using existing air defense (AD) systems. It is much slower than the need to be guided by the 3M22 Zircon and Brahmos II cruise missiles that fly at a speed of Mach 7 (8,600 km/h).
With these two disadvantages, the question that needs to be answered is why did Russia continue to develop Skyfall? Hecla and Kemp believe it is a stepping stone to developing engines for long-range drones and future space weapons systems.
