Moscow Confirms Effective Test of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile
Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the state's top military official.
"We have executed a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the commander told the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.
The low-flying advanced armament, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to bypass defensive systems.
Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.
The national leader said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in 2023, but the assertion could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had moderate achievement since several years ago, based on an disarmament advocacy body.
The military leader stated the weapon was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the test on 21 October.
He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were confirmed as complying with standards, based on a local reporting service.
"As a result, it demonstrated superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source reported the general as saying.
The projectile's application has been the focus of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in 2018.
A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."
Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization commented the identical period, Moscow faces major obstacles in developing a functional system.
"Its induction into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the atomic power system," experts stated.
"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an incident leading to a number of casualties."
A defence publication cited in the study states the missile has a flight distance of between a substantial span, allowing "the weapon to be based anywhere in Russia and still be capable to strike objectives in the United States mainland."
The corresponding source also says the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as a very low elevation above the earth, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.
The projectile, referred to as a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is thought to be propelled by a atomic power source, which is designed to activate after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the atmosphere.
An investigation by a media outlet recently pinpointed a site 295 miles north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the missile.
Employing space-based photos from last summer, an specialist told the outlet he had identified multiple firing positions in development at the location.
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