Moscow Confirms Successful Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the country's top military official.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader the general informed President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude prototype missile, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the capability to avoid missile defences.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

The national leader stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been conducted in 2023, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had partial success since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The general reported the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the test on the specified date.

He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were confirmed as meeting requirements, as per a national news agency.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet stated the commander as saying.

The projectile's application has been the topic of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."

However, as a foreign policy research organization noted the identical period, the nation confronts significant challenges in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the state's inventory arguably hinges not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of ensuring the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts noted.

"There have been multiple unsuccessful trials, and a mishap resulting in several deaths."

A defence publication referenced in the report asserts the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the projectile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be equipped to target goals in the American territory."

The corresponding source also says the missile can travel as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, causing complexity for air defences to engage.

The weapon, referred to as Skyfall by an international defence pact, is considered powered by a reactor system, which is supposed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the air.

An inquiry by a reporting service recently pinpointed a site 475km from the city as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Employing orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert informed the agency he had identified multiple firing positions in development at the location.

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