Russia Announces Accomplished Evaluation of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the nation's leading commander.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff the commander reported to the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-flying experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the capacity to evade defensive systems.

Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.

The president stated that a "final successful test" of the missile had been conducted in 2023, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had limited accomplishment since 2016, as per an arms control campaign group.

Gen Gerasimov said the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the trial on October 21.

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were found to be meeting requirements, based on a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the outlet stated the general as saying.

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

A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a singular system with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank observed the identical period, Moscow encounters significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its entry into the state's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the atomic power system," specialists noted.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an accident leading to multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the study asserts the projectile has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the projectile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be able to reach goals in the continental US."

The same journal also notes the projectile can travel as low as a very low elevation above ground, causing complexity for air defences to intercept.

The projectile, code-named an operational name by a foreign security organization, is considered propelled by a atomic power source, which is intended to commence operation after initial propulsion units have sent it into the air.

An inquiry by a media outlet the previous year located a location a considerable distance from the city as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Using space-based photos from August 2024, an expert informed the outlet he had detected nine horizontal launch pads in development at the facility.

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