Moscow Reports Effective Test of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Cruise Missile
The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the nation's senior general.
"We have launched a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the commander reported to the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in the past decade, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to evade missile defences.
Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and the nation's statements of having accomplished its evaluation.
The national leader declared that a "final successful test" of the armament had been held in 2023, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had moderate achievement since 2016, as per an non-proliferation organization.
The military leader reported the weapon was in the air for fifteen hours during the test on October 21.
He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were confirmed as complying with standards, based on a domestic media outlet.
"Therefore, it exhibited advanced abilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet reported the general as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in the past decade.
A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a singular system with worldwide reach potential."
Yet, as a foreign policy research organization observed the identical period, Moscow faces major obstacles in achieving operational status.
"Its entry into the nation's inventory potentially relies not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists stated.
"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an accident leading to several deaths."
A defence publication cited in the study states the missile has a flight distance of between a substantial span, permitting "the projectile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be able to target goals in the United States mainland."
The identical publication also notes the missile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the surface, making it difficult for defensive networks to stop.
The missile, code-named an operational name by a Western alliance, is thought to be propelled by a reactor system, which is supposed to engage after initial propulsion units have sent it into the air.
An examination by a reporting service last year located a location 295 miles from the city as the probable deployment area of the weapon.
Employing satellite imagery from last summer, an expert told the service he had identified nine horizontal launch pads in development at the facility.
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