[drtillberg]

Eh, not sure how the word "Russian" ended up in that comment. It was an American design before it was a Russian one.[1] Plus, there was an added feature in some American plans I've read about (but can't immediately locate) of long-term loitering over adversarial territory and discharge of radioactive material.

What would it matter if it were hypersonic?

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto

[detritus]

Presumably the choice of noting Russia here is because they are presently and actively suggesting they're going to field one of these soon, and are apparently developing the concept - whereas Project Pluto was the sort of standard fantastical deployment of nuclear technology popular in the 60s, subsequently discounted as being A Bad Idea.

ed- typos

[jjoonathan]

Yeah, I thought the Russians did field a long-term-high-speed-loiter nuclear submarine drone in the last few years. My military-tech-enthusiast friends were all very worried and I'd be lying if I said none of it rubbed off.