Russia Announces Effective Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Weapon
Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the country's senior general.
"We have launched a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a vast distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the commander reported to the head of state in a televised meeting.
The low-altitude advanced armament, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the ability to evade anti-missile technology.
International analysts have previously cast doubt over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.
The national leader stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been held in the previous year, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had moderate achievement since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.
Gen Gerasimov reported the weapon was in the air for a significant duration during the test on 21 October.
He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were determined to be complying with standards, based on a local reporting service.
"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to bypass missile and air defence systems," the media source stated the official as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in recent years.
A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a singular system with global strike capacity."
However, as a global defence think tank commented the corresponding time, Russia confronts considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.
"Its integration into the state's inventory likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of securing the reliable performance of the atomic power system," specialists noted.
"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident leading to several deaths."
A military journal referenced in the analysis asserts the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the missile to be based throughout the nation and still be capable to target objectives in the American territory."
The same journal also says the weapon can fly as low as a very low elevation above ground, making it difficult for air defences to engage.
The projectile, designated a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is believed to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the air.
An investigation by a news agency last year pinpointed a facility a considerable distance above the capital as the possible firing point of the armament.
Using orbital photographs from the recent past, an analyst informed the service he had observed nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the facility.
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