Moscow Confirms Effective Trial of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Weapon

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the country's leading commander.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Senior Military Leader the general told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to evade defensive systems.

International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The president stated that a "last accomplished trial" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had limited accomplishment since 2016, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

The general stated the missile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the test on 21 October.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were found to be up to specification, based on a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it exhibited superior performance to bypass defensive networks," the news agency stated the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in recent years.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a distinctive armament with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a global defence think tank noted the identical period, Moscow confronts significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the country's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts noted.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."

A defence publication cited in the report asserts the weapon has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the weapon to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to reach targets in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also notes the missile can travel as at minimal altitude as a very low elevation above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The weapon, code-named Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is thought to be propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a news agency last year pinpointed a site 475km from the city as the likely launch site of the missile.

Utilizing space-based photos from last summer, an expert reported to the agency he had observed several deployment sites in development at the site.

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