Moscow Reports Accomplished Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile
The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state'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," Senior Military Leader the commander told President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.
The terrain-hugging advanced armament, initially revealed in recent years, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to avoid missile defences.
Western experts have previously cast doubt over the projectile's tactical importance and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.
The national leader said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been conducted in last year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had limited accomplishment since 2016, as per an non-proliferation organization.
The general said the weapon was in the sky for a significant duration during the test on 21 October.
He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were found to be complying with standards, as per a national news agency.
"Consequently, it exhibited superior performance to circumvent defensive networks," the outlet quoted the official as saying.
The projectile's application has been the subject of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in 2018.
A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."
However, as a global defence think tank noted the same year, Russia faces major obstacles in achieving operational status.
"Its induction into the country's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of securing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts stated.
"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap leading to a number of casualties."
A defence publication referenced in the study asserts the projectile has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the missile to be stationed across the country and still be able to strike goals in the American territory."
The identical publication also notes the weapon can operate as low as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, causing complexity for air defences to stop.
The projectile, code-named a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is believed to be powered by a reactor system, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the sky.
An inquiry by a reporting service the previous year pinpointed a facility a considerable distance above the capital as the probable deployment area of the missile.
Utilizing space-based photos from August 2024, an specialist reported to the outlet he had observed multiple firing positions in development at the site.
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