Moscow Reports Accomplished Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile
Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the country's top military official.
"We have launched a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Senior Military Leader the commander informed President Vladimir Putin in a broadcast conference.
The terrain-hugging prototype missile, initially revealed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the ability to evade missile defences.
Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.
The president declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been held in last year, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since several years ago, as per an arms control campaign group.
The military leader reported the weapon was in the air for fifteen hours during the evaluation on the specified date.
He noted the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, as per a national news agency.
"Therefore, it displayed advanced abilities to evade anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet stated the commander as saying.
The missile's utility has been the topic of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in recent years.
A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."
Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank noted the same year, Russia encounters significant challenges in developing a functional system.
"Its integration into the state's inventory likely depends not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists wrote.
"There were numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap resulting in multiple fatalities."
A armed forces periodical cited in the analysis claims the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the missile to be based across the country and still be able to strike targets in the American territory."
The same journal also notes the weapon can fly as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to engage.
The projectile, referred to as Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is considered propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the sky.
An inquiry by a reporting service recently located a site 295 miles from the city as the likely launch site of the weapon.
Utilizing satellite imagery from August 2024, an analyst informed the agency he had observed several deployment sites being built at the facility.
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