Russia Announces Accomplished Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Moscow has trialed the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the country's top military official.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Senior Military Leader the general reported to the head of state in a public appearance.

The low-altitude prototype missile, first announced in recent years, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the capability to bypass anti-missile technology.

Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been carried out in 2023, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had partial success since 2016, as per an non-proliferation organization.

Gen Gerasimov stated the weapon was in the atmosphere for a significant duration during the evaluation on October 21.

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were found to be meeting requirements, as per a national news agency.

"Consequently, it displayed advanced abilities to evade defensive networks," the media source stated the general as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was first announced in the past decade.

A previous study by a American military analysis unit determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank noted the corresponding time, the nation confronts considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the nation's arsenal potentially relies not only on surmounting the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts wrote.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an incident leading to multiple fatalities."

A defence publication cited in the report states the projectile has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the missile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be equipped to strike goals in the continental US."

The corresponding source also says the missile can fly as at minimal altitude as a very low elevation above ground, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to engage.

The missile, code-named Skyfall by a Western alliance, is considered driven by a atomic power source, which is supposed to activate after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the air.

An examination by a news agency recently located a facility 475km from the city as the likely launch site of the missile.

Employing satellite imagery from August 2024, an analyst informed the agency he had identified multiple firing positions in development at the site.

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