Moscow Announces Accomplished Test of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile
Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state's leading commander.
"We have conducted a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Chief of General Staff the general told the head of state in a broadcast conference.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to evade anti-missile technology.
Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.
The head of state said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been carried out in the previous year, but the statement was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had moderate achievement since several years ago, based on an non-proliferation organization.
The general reported the missile was in the sky for 15 hours during the test on 21 October.
He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were determined to be complying with standards, according to a local reporting service.
"Consequently, it exhibited high capabilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet reported the commander as saying.
The projectile's application has been the focus of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in 2018.
A previous study by a foreign defence research body concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a singular system with worldwide reach potential."
Yet, as a global defence think tank noted the identical period, Russia confronts significant challenges in developing a functional system.
"Its integration into the state's arsenal likely depends not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the consistent operation of the atomic power system," specialists noted.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an accident causing several deaths."
A armed forces periodical cited in the report asserts the projectile has a flight distance of between a substantial span, allowing "the projectile to be stationed across the country and still be equipped to strike objectives in the American territory."
The corresponding source also explains the missile can fly as low as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, rendering it challenging for defensive networks to stop.
The projectile, referred to as an operational name by a foreign security organization, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the sky.
An inquiry by a news agency the previous year identified a site 475km north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the missile.
Employing satellite imagery from August 2024, an analyst informed the agency he had observed several deployment sites being built at the site.
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