Moscow Announces Accomplished Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the state's senior general.

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

The terrain-hugging prototype missile, initially revealed in 2018, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid missile defences.

Foreign specialists have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader stated that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been held in the previous year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had partial success since the mid-2010s, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader reported the projectile was in the air for fifteen hours during the trial on the specified date.

He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, based on a national news agency.

"As a result, it displayed advanced abilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet stated the commander as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in the past decade.

A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a singular system with worldwide reach potential."

However, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, the nation faces significant challenges in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the state's arsenal likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts stated.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an accident leading to several deaths."

A military journal quoted in the study asserts the missile has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the missile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be able to strike targets in the United States mainland."

The identical publication also explains the missile can operate as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, causing complexity for defensive networks to intercept.

The missile, designated an operational name by an international defence pact, is considered driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after primary launch mechanisms have propelled it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a news agency last year pinpointed a location 475km above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.

Employing space-based photos from the recent past, an analyst informed the outlet he had observed several deployment sites in development at the site.

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