Russia Reports Successful Test of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile
Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the country's top military official.
"We have conducted a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told the head of state in a broadcast conference.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to avoid anti-missile technology.
Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having effectively trialed it.
The head of state declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been carried out in last year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since 2016, as per an arms control campaign group.
Gen Gerasimov stated the projectile was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on October 21.
He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were determined to be up to specification, as per a national news agency.
"Therefore, it demonstrated superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the news agency stated the general as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in 2018.
A previous study by a foreign defence research body determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a unique weapon with global strike capacity."
However, as an international strategic institute commented the corresponding time, the nation faces significant challenges in making the weapon viable.
"Its integration into the country's arsenal likely depends not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts wrote.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."
A defence publication cited in the analysis states the missile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the weapon to be stationed throughout the nation and still be equipped to strike goals in the continental US."
The identical publication also explains the projectile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the earth, causing complexity for defensive networks to engage.
The missile, code-named an operational name by a foreign security organization, is thought to be driven by a atomic power source, which is designed to engage after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the sky.
An inquiry by a reporting service recently located a location 295 miles north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the armament.
Utilizing orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert reported to the agency he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the location.
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