Russia Confirms Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Weapon

The nation has evaluated the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the nation's senior general.

"We have launched a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Chief of General Staff the general told President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude prototype missile, originally disclosed in recent years, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to bypass anti-missile technology.

Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader declared that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been conducted in the previous year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov reported the missile was in the air for 15 hours during the trial on the specified date.

He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were determined to be up to specification, according to a national news agency.

"Therefore, it displayed superior performance to evade missile and air defence systems," the media source stated the commander as saying.

The projectile's application has been the focus of vigorous discussion in military and defence circles since it was first announced in 2018.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a singular system with intercontinental range capability."

However, as a foreign policy research organization observed the same year, the nation encounters significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the nation's inventory potentially relies not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists stated.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap causing a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the study asserts the weapon has a flight distance of between a substantial span, permitting "the projectile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be able to target targets in the continental US."

The identical publication also notes the missile can operate as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the earth, making it difficult for aerial protection systems to stop.

The missile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is thought to be powered by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a reporting service recently located a facility a considerable distance from the city as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Using space-based photos from the recent past, an specialist told the service he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the location.

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