Two US researchers claim to have identified a likely Russian site 9M370 Burevestniknew cruise missile with propulsion system and weapons nuclearThis is what President Vladimir Putin calls “invincible.”

Putin pointed out that the weapon is called SSC-X-9 Skyfall NATO – has virtually unlimited range and can evade US missile defenses. However, some Western experts question its claims and strategic value Petrelsaying he would not add capabilities Moscow did not already have and that it risked suffering an accident that would release radiation.

Using images taken July 26 by the commercial satellite company Planet Labs, two researchers identified a construction project adjacent to the warhead storage site. nuclearIt is known by two names – “Vologda-20” and “Chebsara” – as a possible location for the new missile. The facility is located 475 kilometers north of Moscow.

Reuters was the first agency to report this fact.

Decker Eveleth, an analyst with the research and analysis organization CNA, found satellite images and determined what he said: Nine horizontal launch platforms are being built.They are located in three groups inside raised berms to protect them from attack or to prevent an accidental explosion in one of them from detonating missiles in others, he explained.

The berms are connected by roads and, Eveleth concluded, are likely to be buildings where the missiles and their components will be serviced, as well as an existing complex of five warhead storage bunkers. nuclearis.

The site is designed “for a large fixed missile system, and the only large fixed missile system that (Russia) is currently developing is Skyfall,” Eveleth said.

The Russian Defense Ministry and the embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment on their assessment of the strategic value. Petrelits testing history and the risks it poses.

A Kremlin spokesman said these were questions for the Defense Ministry and declined to comment further.

The State Department, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center also declined to comment.

The identification of the likely launch site suggests that Russia is moving forward with its deployment after a series of problematic tests in recent years, said Eveleth and co-researcher Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey.

Lewis agreed with Eveleth’s assessment after reviewing the images at her request. The images “suggest something very unique, very different. And we obviously know that Russia is developing this propulsion rocket. nuclear“he said.