Moscow Announces Accomplished Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile
Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the country's leading commander.
"We have launched a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Chief of General Staff the commander told the Russian leader in a public appearance.
The low-altitude advanced armament, originally disclosed in recent years, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to evade missile defences.
Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.
The national leader stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been held in the previous year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had moderate achievement since several years ago, as per an arms control campaign group.
The military leader reported the weapon was in the air for a significant duration during the test on 21 October.
He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were tested and were confirmed as up to specification, according to a local reporting service.
"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to evade missile and air defence systems," the media source reported the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the topic of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in recent years.
A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."
Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization noted the corresponding time, Moscow encounters major obstacles in making the weapon viable.
"Its induction into the nation's inventory arguably hinges not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists stated.
"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an incident leading to a number of casualties."
A military journal quoted in the analysis states the weapon has a operational radius of between a substantial span, permitting "the projectile to be based across the country and still be able to target targets in the United States mainland."
The identical publication also notes the missile can operate as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above ground, causing complexity for air defences to stop.
The projectile, code-named a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the air.
An inquiry by a media outlet last year located a site 295 miles from the city as the likely launch site of the missile.
Utilizing satellite imagery from August 2024, an specialist informed the service he had identified several deployment sites in development at the location.
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