Moscow Reports Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Weapon

Moscow has trialed the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the state's senior general.

"We have launched a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov informed the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging prototype missile, initially revealed in 2018, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to evade anti-missile technology.

Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The president declared that a "final successful test" of the missile had been held in 2023, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had moderate achievement since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The military leader stated the weapon was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the test on the specified date.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were confirmed as meeting requirements, as per a local reporting service.

"Therefore, it demonstrated advanced abilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the media source quoted the official as saying.

The missile's utility has been the topic of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was first announced in 2018.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a singular system with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the identical period, the nation confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the nation's stockpile potentially relies not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of securing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists wrote.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an incident resulting in a number of casualties."

A defence publication cited in the report states the weapon has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the projectile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to reach objectives in the American territory."

The identical publication also notes the missile can fly as low as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to engage.

The missile, referred to as an operational name by an international defence pact, is believed to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to engage after initial propulsion units have launched it into the atmosphere.

An examination by a media outlet last year identified a facility 295 miles from the city as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Employing space-based photos from August 2024, an expert told the service he had detected nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the site.

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