Moscow Confirms Successful Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile

The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the nation's leading commander.

"We have executed a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Senior Military Leader the general reported to President Vladimir Putin in a public appearance.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in the past decade, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to evade defensive systems.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The head of state said that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been conducted in last year, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had partial success since the mid-2010s, based on an arms control campaign group.

The general stated the weapon was in the air for a significant duration during the trial on the specified date.

He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were evaluated and were determined to be meeting requirements, as per a national news agency.

"Therefore, it exhibited advanced abilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet reported the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the focus of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in the past decade.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

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

"Its entry into the nation's inventory potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists wrote.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an incident leading to multiple fatalities."

A military journal cited in the study claims the weapon has a flight distance of between a substantial span, allowing "the weapon to be stationed across the country and still be equipped to strike objectives in the United States mainland."

The same journal also explains the weapon can operate as low as 50 to 100 metres above ground, rendering it challenging for air defences to stop.

The missile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is believed to be propelled by a reactor system, which is supposed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the sky.

An inquiry by a reporting service the previous year located a location a considerable distance above the capital as the possible firing point of the armament.

Employing satellite imagery from August 2024, an analyst told the outlet he had detected multiple firing positions in development at the facility.

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