Moscow Confirms Successful Test of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile
Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the country's senior general.
"We have launched a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.
The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in recent years, has been described as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to evade defensive systems.
International analysts have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.
The head of state stated that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been conducted in the previous year, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since the mid-2010s, based on an non-proliferation organization.
The military leader stated the missile was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the test on 21 October.
He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, according to a local reporting service.
"As a result, it exhibited high capabilities to bypass missile and air defence systems," the outlet reported the general as saying.
The missile's utility has been the focus of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in 2018.
A previous study by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a singular system with global strike capacity."
Yet, as a global defence think tank noted the same year, the nation faces considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.
"Its induction into the country's arsenal arguably hinges not only on surmounting the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts noted.
"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an incident causing a number of casualties."
A military journal cited in the analysis claims the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the weapon to be based across the country and still be able to target goals in the United States mainland."
The identical publication also notes the weapon can fly as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.
The weapon, designated Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is believed to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the sky.
An examination by a media outlet last year identified a location a considerable distance above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.
Utilizing orbital photographs from last summer, an expert told the service he had detected nine horizontal launch pads being built at the facility.
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