Moscow Confirms Accomplished Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile
Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.
"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff the commander reported to President Vladimir Putin in a public appearance.
The low-flying advanced armament, originally disclosed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to bypass missile defences.
International analysts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.
The president stated that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been carried out in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had partial success since the mid-2010s, based on an arms control campaign group.
Gen Gerasimov said the missile was in the sky for a significant duration during the trial on October 21.
He noted the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were determined to be complying with standards, based on a national news agency.
"As a result, it demonstrated advanced abilities to evade defensive networks," the media source quoted the commander as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in 2018.
A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would offer Moscow a unique weapon with global strike capacity."
Yet, as a foreign policy research organization commented the corresponding time, Russia encounters major obstacles in achieving operational status.
"Its induction into the nation's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts wrote.
"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident causing a number of casualties."
A armed forces periodical referenced in the study claims the projectile has a range of between a substantial span, allowing "the projectile to be deployed across the country and still be capable to target objectives in the American territory."
The same journal also notes the weapon can fly as low as a very low elevation above ground, causing complexity for air defences to intercept.
The weapon, referred to as Skyfall by an international defence pact, is thought to be powered by a reactor system, which is designed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the air.
An inquiry by a news agency the previous year located a facility a considerable distance above the capital as the likely launch site of the weapon.
Employing space-based photos from August 2024, an expert told the service he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the location.
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