Moscow Confirms Effective Trial of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the country's senior general.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the general informed President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in recent years, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to bypass missile defences.

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

The president declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the armament had been carried out in last year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had moderate achievement since several years ago, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader stated the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were found to be complying with standards, based on a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it exhibited advanced abilities to bypass defensive networks," the outlet quoted the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the focus of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in recent years.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the same year, Moscow confronts significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its integration into the country's inventory arguably hinges not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of securing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts wrote.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and a mishap leading to a number of casualties."

A military journal cited in the analysis asserts the projectile has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the projectile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be able to strike goals in the United States mainland."

The same journal also says the missile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the surface, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to engage.

The missile, designated an operational name by a Western alliance, is considered driven by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to commence operation after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a media outlet last year pinpointed a facility 475km above the capital as the likely launch site of the missile.

Utilizing space-based photos from August 2024, an analyst informed the agency he had observed nine horizontal launch pads in development at the location.

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