Moscow Reports Successful Test of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the nation's top military official.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the general informed the Russian leader in a public appearance.

The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capacity to avoid missile defences.

International analysts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The head of state declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been conducted in the previous year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had limited accomplishment since 2016, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader said the projectile was in the air for 15 hours during the test on the specified date.

He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, as per a local reporting service.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency reported the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was initially revealed in the past decade.

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."

Nonetheless, as an international strategic institute commented the identical period, Russia faces considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the nation's stockpile likely depends not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of securing the consistent operation of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists wrote.

"There occurred multiple unsuccessful trials, and a mishap causing multiple fatalities."

A defence publication cited in the report states the projectile has a operational radius of between a substantial span, allowing "the missile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be capable to reach goals in the continental US."

The corresponding source also notes the projectile can fly as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above ground, causing complexity for defensive networks to intercept.

The missile, referred to as Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is considered propelled by a reactor system, which is intended to engage after primary launch mechanisms have launched it into the air.

An examination by a media outlet the previous year located a location 475km from the city as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Employing satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst reported to the outlet he had identified multiple firing positions being built at the location.

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