Russia Announces Accomplished Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the nation's senior general.

"We have executed a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude advanced armament, first announced in recent years, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the capability to evade defensive systems.

International analysts have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

The president stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been held in the previous year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had partial success since the mid-2010s, as per an non-proliferation organization.

Gen Gerasimov stated the missile was in the sky for a significant duration during the trial on the specified date.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were determined to be complying with standards, as per a local reporting service.

"Consequently, it displayed superior performance to bypass missile and air defence systems," the outlet stated the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in the past decade.

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute noted the corresponding time, Moscow faces considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the nation's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," experts stated.

"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and a mishap resulting in multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical cited in the study claims the missile has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the weapon to be based throughout the nation and still be equipped to strike targets in the United States mainland."

The same journal also says the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above ground, making it difficult for air defences to engage.

The weapon, code-named a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is considered driven by a reactor system, which is supposed to commence operation after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the sky.

An examination by a news agency the previous year pinpointed a site a considerable distance north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Utilizing orbital photographs from August 2024, an specialist reported to the service he had observed multiple firing positions being built at the location.

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