Moscow Confirms Accomplished Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile
The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the nation's top military official.
"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Top Army Official the commander told the head of state in a broadcast conference.
The low-altitude experimental weapon, initially revealed in recent years, has been described as having a potentially unlimited range and the ability to avoid defensive systems.
International analysts have previously cast doubt over the projectile's tactical importance and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.
The president stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been conducted in 2023, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, based on an non-proliferation organization.
The general reported the weapon was in the sky for a significant duration during the trial on October 21.
He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were found to be up to specification, according to a domestic media outlet.
"As a result, it displayed advanced abilities to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency stated the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the focus of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in the past decade.
A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a unique weapon with global strike capacity."
However, as a global defence think tank commented the corresponding time, Russia faces significant challenges in developing a functional system.
"Its induction into the state's inventory potentially relies not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," experts wrote.
"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in a number of casualties."
A defence publication referenced in the study states the missile has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the weapon to be deployed throughout the nation and still be able to strike objectives in the continental US."
The identical publication also says the weapon can travel as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above ground, causing complexity for defensive networks to stop.
The projectile, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is believed to be propelled by a atomic power source, which is designed to engage after initial propulsion units have launched it into the sky.
An examination by a news agency recently pinpointed a site a considerable distance from the city as the probable deployment area of the missile.
Utilizing orbital photographs from the recent past, an analyst reported to the outlet he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the facility.
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