Russia Reports Successful Test of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the country's leading commander.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Chief of General Staff the commander told President Vladimir Putin in a public appearance.

The terrain-hugging prototype missile, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been described as having a possible global reach and the capacity to evade anti-missile technology.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader said that a "final successful test" of the armament had been conducted in the previous year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, according to an non-proliferation organization.

Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the sky for fifteen hours during the test on the specified date.

He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were confirmed as complying with standards, according to a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to bypass missile and air defence systems," the news agency reported the commander as saying.

The missile's utility has been the topic of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in 2018.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with worldwide reach potential."

Yet, as a foreign policy research organization noted the same year, the nation confronts considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its induction into the country's inventory likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the consistent operation of the atomic power system," experts stated.

"There occurred numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in several deaths."

A military journal quoted in the analysis asserts the weapon has a range of between a substantial span, allowing "the projectile to be stationed anywhere in Russia and still be capable to target targets in the United States mainland."

The same journal also notes the weapon can travel as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, rendering it challenging for defensive networks to stop.

The weapon, code-named an operational name by a foreign security organization, is believed to be propelled by a reactor system, which is supposed to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the air.

An investigation by a reporting service the previous year pinpointed a site a considerable distance north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the missile.

Utilizing space-based photos from August 2024, an expert told the agency he had identified multiple firing positions under construction at the facility.

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