Russia Reports Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile
Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the nation's top military official.
"We have launched a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the commander told the Russian leader in a televised meeting.
The terrain-hugging advanced armament, initially revealed in the past decade, has been portrayed as having a possible global reach and the ability to avoid missile defences.
International analysts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.
The national leader declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been held in last year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had moderate achievement since 2016, as per an arms control campaign group.
The general said the missile was in the sky for a significant duration during the trial on October 21.
He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were tested and were confirmed as meeting requirements, as per a local reporting service.
"As a result, it demonstrated high capabilities to bypass defensive networks," the media source reported the general as saying.
The projectile's application has been the subject of intense debate in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in 2018.
A previous study by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with worldwide reach potential."
Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the same year, Moscow confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.
"Its induction into the state's stockpile arguably hinges not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists stated.
"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and a mishap resulting in a number of casualties."
A armed forces periodical cited in the study claims the missile has a operational radius of between a substantial span, permitting "the weapon to be stationed throughout the nation and still be capable to target goals in the continental US."
The corresponding source also says the projectile can travel as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to stop.
The projectile, referred to as a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is thought to be driven by a atomic power source, which is designed to activate after initial propulsion units have launched it into the sky.
An inquiry by a media outlet the previous year identified a facility 475km above the capital as the likely launch site of the armament.
Employing orbital photographs from the recent past, an specialist reported to the service he had identified nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the facility.
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