Moscow Confirms Successful Trial of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Missile
Russia has tested the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the nation's senior general.
"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the ultimate range," Top Army Official the general told President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.
The low-flying advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid defensive systems.
Foreign specialists have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.
The national leader declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been carried out in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had partial success since 2016, as per an arms control campaign group.
Gen Gerasimov reported the weapon was in the sky for fifteen hours during the test on the specified date.
He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were determined to be complying with standards, according to a national news agency.
"Therefore, it demonstrated advanced abilities to circumvent defensive networks," the news agency reported the official as saying.
The missile's utility has been the subject of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was first announced in recent years.
A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with worldwide reach potential."
Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization commented the same year, Russia encounters significant challenges in achieving operational status.
"Its induction into the nation's inventory potentially relies not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of ensuring the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists wrote.
"There have been multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident resulting in multiple fatalities."
A military journal quoted in the report states the weapon has a operational radius of between a substantial span, permitting "the missile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be equipped to target goals in the United States mainland."
The same journal also notes the projectile can operate as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to intercept.
The weapon, designated a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is thought to be powered by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the air.
An investigation by a news agency the previous year pinpointed a location 475km north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the armament.
Utilizing satellite imagery from August 2024, an expert informed the service he had observed multiple firing positions being built at the location.
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