Moscow Reports Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the state's top military official.

"We have conducted a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Top Army Official the commander reported to the head of state in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, originally disclosed in recent years, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to evade anti-missile technology.

Western experts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The president declared that a "final successful test" of the missile had been held in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, as per an non-proliferation organization.

Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

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

"As a result, it exhibited advanced abilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency stated the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in 2018.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."

However, as a global defence think tank noted the same year, Russia encounters considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the state's inventory potentially relies not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an incident causing several deaths."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the analysis claims the projectile has a flight distance of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the missile to be stationed across the country and still be able to strike goals in the American territory."

The corresponding source also explains the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to engage.

The weapon, referred to as an operational name by a Western alliance, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a news agency recently identified a location a considerable distance above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Utilizing satellite imagery from the recent past, an analyst told the service he had identified multiple firing positions in development at the site.

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