Russia Confirms Effective Test of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the nation's top military official.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader the general informed the Russian leader in a public appearance.

The terrain-hugging prototype missile, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid anti-missile technology.

Western experts 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 "final successful test" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had moderate achievement since 2016, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The general stated the missile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were found to be up to specification, based on a local reporting service.

"Consequently, it displayed high capabilities to evade missile and air defence systems," the news agency stated the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A 2021 report by a foreign defence research body stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a singular system with worldwide reach potential."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute noted the same year, the nation faces considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the nation's stockpile likely depends not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts wrote.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap leading to several deaths."

A military journal cited in the analysis states the weapon has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the projectile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be capable to target objectives in the United States mainland."

The identical publication also says the missile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above ground, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The weapon, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is thought to be powered by a atomic power source, which is designed to activate after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the sky.

An inquiry by a reporting service last year identified a location a considerable distance north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the missile.

Utilizing space-based photos from last summer, an expert informed the outlet he had identified several deployment sites under construction at the location.

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