Moscow Confirms Successful Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile
Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the nation's top military official.
"We have conducted 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 public appearance.
The low-altitude experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to bypass defensive systems.
International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.
The national leader declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been conducted in 2023, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had limited accomplishment since 2016, as per an arms control campaign group.
The military leader reported the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the trial on October 21.
He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were determined to be complying with standards, as per a local reporting service.
"Consequently, it demonstrated advanced abilities to bypass defensive networks," the outlet reported the official as saying.
The missile's utility has been the subject of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in recent years.
A previous study by a American military analysis unit stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a singular system with global strike capacity."
Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, Russia confronts significant challenges in achieving operational status.
"Its entry into the country's arsenal arguably hinges not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists wrote.
"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident causing multiple fatalities."
A defence publication referenced in the report states the projectile has a range of between a substantial span, allowing "the projectile to be based across the country and still be equipped to reach targets in the American territory."
The identical publication also explains the weapon can fly as low as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, causing complexity for defensive networks to engage.
The projectile, designated a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is believed to be driven by a atomic power source, which is supposed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the atmosphere.
An examination by a media outlet last year located a facility 475km from the city as the probable deployment area of the weapon.
Utilizing satellite imagery from August 2024, an specialist reported to the outlet he had detected nine horizontal launch pads in development at the site.
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