Russia Confirms Effective Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Weapon

The nation has evaluated the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's senior general.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the ultimate range," Top Army Official the general reported to President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, initially revealed in the past decade, has been described as having a possible global reach and the ability to bypass missile defences.

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

The head of state declared that a "final successful test" of the missile had been carried out in 2023, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader reported the projectile was in the atmosphere for a significant duration during the evaluation on October 21.

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were evaluated and were confirmed as meeting requirements, based on a domestic media outlet.

"Consequently, it demonstrated high capabilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency reported the commander as saying.

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

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a distinctive armament with worldwide reach potential."

However, as an international strategic institute observed the same year, the nation confronts significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its integration into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts stated.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the report states the projectile has a flight distance of between a substantial span, permitting "the missile to be based throughout the nation and still be able to reach objectives in the American territory."

The identical publication also says the missile can operate as low as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to engage.

The weapon, referred to as an operational name by a Western alliance, is thought to be propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the sky.

An examination by a media outlet last year located a facility 475km above the capital as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Utilizing satellite imagery from the recent past, an analyst informed the service he had identified several deployment sites being built at the facility.

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