Russia Confirms Effective Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.

"We have executed a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the commander informed President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging prototype missile, initially revealed in recent years, has been described as having a possible global reach and the ability to evade missile defences.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.

The head of state stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been held in last year, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had partial success since 2016, as per an arms control campaign group.

Gen Gerasimov stated the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the trial on October 21.

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were evaluated and were determined to be meeting requirements, as per a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it demonstrated superior performance to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency reported the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was initially revealed in 2018.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute noted the identical period, the nation faces significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its induction into the nation's arsenal arguably hinges not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the report states the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the projectile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be capable to reach goals in the continental US."

The identical publication also says the projectile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to engage.

The weapon, code-named a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is thought to be driven by a atomic power source, which is supposed to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the air.

An examination by a reporting service last year pinpointed a facility 475km north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Using space-based photos from last summer, an analyst reported to the agency he had observed several deployment sites in development at the location.

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