09:30 09-12-2025

Ishchenko Explains Russia’s Logic Behind the Burevestnik Missile

Rostislav Ishchenko says Russia’s Burevestnik missile is designed to bypass missile defense through unlimited flight and maneuvering, potentially serving as a first disarming strike weapon.

Political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko explained the logic behind Russia’s development of the unlimited-range cruise missile Burevestnik.

The interviewer pointed out that the new Burevestnik is a cruise missile with unlimited range and flight time, but at the same time it is still just a subsonic cruise missile comparable to the American Tomahawk. The question was raised that such a missile would be detected and intercepted multiple times before reaching its target, and that if it were launched simply in a patrol mode, it would sooner or later be shot down and possibly even taken apart for study. The interviewer asked what the point was in creating this kind of weapon if its strike would not be more destructive than that of a single American Tomahawk, and if mass production of such an expensive system would likely never match the existing U.S. stockpile of Tomahawks.

Ishchenko responded that, as he understood it, the point is that Burevestnik, being an intercontinental cruise missile, is capable not only of remaining in the air for an unlimited time, but also of freely maneuvering and bypassing areas covered by missile defense systems. He stressed that no country’s missile defense is limitless. In the case of large states or blocs such as Russia, the United States, China, India, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, or the European Union, air and missile defense systems can cover only the main expected directions of attack. But if a strike can be delivered at any moment and from any direction, he argued, it becomes impossible to counter it. Ishchenko added that if it turns out that the missile can be launched in a relatively covert manner, such a system could also be used as a weapon for a first disarming strike.

He went on to say that, in principle, any system that is adopted into service — whether a missile system or something else — can prove its usefulness and effectiveness only in real combat. Therefore, Ishchenko concluded, how effective Burevestnik actually is will be known only to those who survive (if any do) after a nuclear war, if or when such a war occurs.