Moscow Reports Successful Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Weapon
Moscow has trialed the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, as stated by the country's senior general.
"We have launched a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.
The low-altitude advanced armament, originally disclosed in recent years, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to evade defensive systems.
International analysts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.
The national leader stated that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been carried out in the previous year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had moderate achievement since several years ago, according to an non-proliferation organization.
Gen Gerasimov said the weapon was in the sky for fifteen hours during the evaluation on 21 October.
He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were determined to be up to specification, based on a national news agency.
"As a result, it displayed superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency stated the general as saying.
The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of intense debate in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in recent years.
A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."
Yet, as an international strategic institute observed the same year, Moscow encounters considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.
"Its induction into the state's arsenal potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the consistent operation of the atomic power system," specialists wrote.
"There were several flawed evaluations, and a mishap resulting in multiple fatalities."
A armed forces periodical referenced in the analysis states the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the weapon to be based anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to target targets in the continental US."
The corresponding source also notes the projectile can operate as close to the ground as a very low elevation above ground, causing complexity for defensive networks to stop.
The weapon, referred to as a specific moniker by an international defence pact, is considered propelled by a atomic power source, which is supposed to engage after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the atmosphere.
An investigation by a reporting service the previous year located a location 475km north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the armament.
Utilizing space-based photos from last summer, an expert reported to the outlet he had identified nine horizontal launch pads being built at the facility.
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