Russia Reports Successful Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Weapon

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the nation's top military official.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Chief of General Staff the commander reported to President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to bypass defensive systems.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the weapon had been held in 2023, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since several years ago, as per an non-proliferation organization.

The general said the missile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the test on the specified date.

He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were evaluated and were determined to be complying with standards, based on a local reporting service.

"As a result, it demonstrated superior performance to evade missile and air defence systems," the outlet reported the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the topic of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in recent years.

A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center stated: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a singular system with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as a foreign policy research organization noted the identical period, Moscow encounters considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the nation's arsenal likely depends not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts wrote.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing a number of casualties."

A military journal quoted in the report states the weapon has a range of between a substantial span, enabling "the projectile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be able to strike goals in the United States mainland."

The same journal also notes the weapon can operate as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for defensive networks to intercept.

The projectile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is believed to be propelled by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a reporting service the previous year located a facility a considerable distance north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Employing satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst informed the outlet he had detected multiple firing positions in development at the location.

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