Russia Announces Effective Test of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

The nation has evaluated the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the country's senior general.

"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the general reported to the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, originally disclosed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the capability to avoid anti-missile technology.

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

The president stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been carried out in last year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had partial success since 2016, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the sky for a significant duration during the trial on October 21.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were found to be up to specification, as per a local reporting service.

"Therefore, it demonstrated high capabilities to evade missile and air defence systems," the media source quoted the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was first announced in 2018.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

However, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, Moscow faces considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its induction into the nation's arsenal likely depends not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts noted.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical cited in the analysis asserts the weapon has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the missile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be able to strike targets in the continental US."

The same journal also notes the weapon can travel as low as a very low elevation above the surface, causing complexity for air defences to engage.

The missile, referred to as a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a reporting service recently located a location a considerable distance from the city as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Employing space-based photos from the recent past, an expert told the service he had identified several deployment sites under construction at the facility.

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