Moscow Reports Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Weapon

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, according to the nation's top military official.

"We have executed a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader the commander told the head of state in a public appearance.

The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in the past decade, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to avoid missile defences.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The president said that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had limited accomplishment since several years ago, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov said the projectile was in the air for a significant duration during the evaluation on the specified date.

He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were determined to be up to specification, according to a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it displayed superior performance to evade defensive networks," the media source stated the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in 2018.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."

Yet, as a global defence think tank noted the identical period, the nation faces considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.

"Its integration into the country's arsenal likely depends not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts wrote.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an accident causing a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical referenced in the study claims the missile has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the missile to be based across the country and still be able to reach targets in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also explains the missile can operate as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, rendering it challenging for air defences to intercept.

The missile, referred to as Skyfall by a Western alliance, is thought to be propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the air.

An inquiry by a reporting service recently pinpointed a site 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the missile.

Employing space-based photos from August 2024, an analyst reported to the agency he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the site.

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