Russia Announces Effective Evaluation of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the country's top military official.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, initially revealed in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to bypass defensive systems.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the armament had been conducted in last year, but the assertion lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since the mid-2010s, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The general reported the projectile was in the air for fifteen hours during the trial on 21 October.

He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, according to a local reporting service.

"As a result, it displayed superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the media source reported the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in recent years.

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a singular system with global strike capacity."

Yet, as an international strategic institute observed the corresponding time, the nation encounters major obstacles in making the weapon viable.

"Its induction into the country's stockpile arguably hinges not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists stated.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and a mishap leading to multiple fatalities."

A defence publication referenced in the report asserts the missile has a operational radius of between a substantial span, enabling "the missile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be capable to reach objectives in the continental US."

The corresponding source also says 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, designated an operational name by a Western alliance, is considered powered by a reactor system, which is designed to activate after initial propulsion units have launched it into the air.

An inquiry by a reporting service last year pinpointed a facility 295 miles north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the armament.

Employing orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert informed the service he had identified nine horizontal launch pads being built at the facility.

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