Russia Reports Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Weapon
The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state's leading commander.
"We have launched a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov informed the head of state in a public appearance.
The low-flying experimental weapon, first announced in the past decade, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capacity to bypass anti-missile technology.
Western experts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.
The president stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been conducted in the previous year, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had partial success since 2016, based on an arms control campaign group.
The military leader reported the missile was in the sky for fifteen hours during the test on the specified date.
He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were evaluated and were found to be up to specification, as per a domestic media outlet.
"As a result, it displayed high capabilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency stated the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the topic of intense debate in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in 2018.
A 2021 report by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."
Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank commented the same year, Moscow encounters considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.
"Its integration into the nation's inventory likely depends not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," experts stated.
"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident causing several deaths."
A armed forces periodical quoted in the study asserts the missile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the weapon to be based anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to reach targets in the United States mainland."
The same journal also says the weapon can fly as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, making it difficult for air defences to stop.
The missile, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is believed to be driven by a reactor system, which is intended to activate after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the sky.
An investigation by a media outlet the previous year located a site a considerable distance north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the armament.
Utilizing orbital photographs from last summer, an expert told the agency he had identified several deployment sites under construction at the location.
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