Russia Confirms Effective Test of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state's senior general.

"We have launched a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader the general informed the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude experimental weapon, originally disclosed in 2018, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the ability to bypass anti-missile technology.

Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The head of state said that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been carried out in 2023, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had partial success since 2016, according to an arms control campaign group.

The military leader reported the weapon was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on 21 October.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, as per a local reporting service.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the media source quoted the general as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in 2018.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."

Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the identical period, Moscow confronts considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the country's arsenal likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," experts noted.

"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an incident leading to a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the analysis claims the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the weapon to be stationed throughout the nation and still be equipped to strike objectives in the continental US."

The identical publication also says the projectile can operate as low as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, rendering it challenging for air defences to intercept.

The missile, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is considered driven by a reactor system, which is intended to commence operation after initial propulsion units have sent it into the air.

An examination by a reporting service recently located a facility 475km north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the missile.

Using satellite imagery from August 2024, an analyst reported to the outlet he had identified nine horizontal launch pads being built at the site.

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