Russia Reports Successful Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Weapon

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the general reported to President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The low-flying prototype missile, first announced in recent years, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capacity to avoid missile defences.

Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The president declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been held in 2023, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had partial success since several years ago, based on an arms control campaign group.

Gen Gerasimov reported the weapon was in the sky for fifteen hours during the test on 21 October.

He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were confirmed as complying with standards, according to a local reporting service.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency reported the official as saying.

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

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a singular system with worldwide reach potential."

Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization commented the corresponding time, the nation confronts significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the country's inventory arguably hinges not only on resolving the significant development hurdle of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists wrote.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the study claims the missile has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the projectile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be capable to reach targets in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also says the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above ground, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to engage.

The missile, referred to as an operational name by a foreign security organization, is considered driven by a atomic power source, which is supposed to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the air.

An inquiry by a reporting service the previous year located a site 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Using satellite imagery from last summer, an expert reported to the outlet he had identified nine horizontal launch pads being built at the site.

Associated Updates

• National Leader Approves Amendments to Nuclear Doctrine