Russia Announces Successful Trial of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Missile

The nation has evaluated the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the nation's top military official.

"We have executed a prolonged flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the ultimate range," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been described as having a possible global reach and the ability to bypass anti-missile technology.

International analysts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

The national leader stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been held in 2023, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had partial success since the mid-2010s, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader stated the projectile was in the sky for a significant duration during the evaluation on 21 October.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were determined to be meeting requirements, based on a national news agency.

"Consequently, it displayed superior performance to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet reported the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the focus of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was first announced in 2018.

A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would offer Moscow a singular system with global strike capacity."

However, as an international strategic institute commented the same year, Moscow confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the state's inventory arguably hinges not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of securing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts noted.

"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."

A military journal cited in the analysis asserts the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the weapon to be stationed across the country and still be capable to strike objectives in the American territory."

The same journal also explains the projectile can travel as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the surface, rendering it challenging for air defences to stop.

The projectile, referred to as an operational name by a foreign security organization, is believed to be powered by a atomic power source, which is designed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the sky.

An inquiry by a reporting service last year located a facility 295 miles north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the missile.

Employing orbital photographs from last summer, an specialist told the service he had observed several deployment sites being built at the facility.

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