Russia Announces Successful Test of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Weapon

The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik long-range missile, according to the country's senior general.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the general reported to the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-flying prototype missile, first announced in recent years, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to bypass missile defences.

International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader said the projectile was in the air for 15 hours during the trial on October 21.

He noted the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were confirmed as meeting requirements, according to a national news agency.

"Therefore, it displayed superior performance to evade defensive networks," the news agency quoted the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in 2018.

A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit stated: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a singular system with intercontinental range capability."

However, as a global defence think tank commented the same year, Moscow encounters major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its integration into the country's stockpile arguably hinges not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.

"There occurred several flawed evaluations, and an accident leading to a number of casualties."

A defence publication cited in the analysis states the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the projectile to be stationed across the country and still be equipped to reach targets in the continental US."

The same journal also explains the projectile can fly as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above ground, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.

The projectile, referred to as Skyfall by a Western alliance, is believed to be driven by a atomic power source, which is designed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the sky.

An inquiry by a media outlet last year located a site 475km north of Moscow as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Employing orbital photographs from August 2024, an analyst told the outlet he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the facility.

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