Russia Confirms Accomplished Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the country's senior general.

"We have executed a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a vast distance, which is not the ultimate range," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude experimental weapon, initially revealed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid missile defences.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader said that a "final successful test" of the armament had been held in 2023, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had partial success since the mid-2010s, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

The general said the projectile was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on 21 October.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were tested and were determined to be up to specification, as per a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it demonstrated high capabilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency stated the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in recent years.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization commented the identical period, Moscow faces significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its induction into the state's inventory likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists wrote.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."

A defence publication cited in the report asserts the weapon has a range of between a substantial span, enabling "the missile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be able to reach goals in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also says the missile can travel as low as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, causing complexity for defensive networks to stop.

The projectile, referred to as a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is thought to be powered by a reactor system, which is designed to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the sky.

An investigation by a news agency recently pinpointed a facility 295 miles north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Using orbital photographs from last summer, an expert told the service he had detected several deployment sites being built at the location.

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