Russia Announces Successful Evaluation of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Weapon
Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the country's leading commander.
"We have executed a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the general told President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.
The terrain-hugging prototype missile, first announced in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to bypass anti-missile technology.
Western experts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.
The president said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been held in last year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had partial success since 2016, based on an disarmament advocacy body.
The general said the weapon was in the air for a significant duration during the evaluation on 21 October.
He noted the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were confirmed as complying with standards, based on a local reporting service.
"Therefore, it demonstrated superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the outlet reported the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the focus of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in the past decade.
A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a singular system with intercontinental range capability."
However, as a global defence think tank observed the same year, Russia faces considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.
"Its entry into the nation's arsenal potentially relies not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts stated.
"There have been several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing a number of casualties."
A defence publication referenced in the report asserts the projectile has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the missile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be capable to target goals in the United States mainland."
The identical publication also notes the weapon can travel as low as a very low elevation above the earth, causing complexity for air defences to intercept.
The missile, code-named Skyfall by a Western alliance, is considered propelled by a reactor system, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the air.
An investigation by a reporting service the previous year pinpointed a location 475km above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.
Employing orbital photographs from August 2024, an specialist informed the service he had observed multiple firing positions in development at the site.
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