Moscow Confirms Accomplished Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the nation's senior general.

"We have launched a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the general told the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-altitude advanced armament, originally disclosed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capability to avoid defensive systems.

Foreign specialists have earlier expressed skepticism over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader stated that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been carried out in the previous year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had partial success since the mid-2010s, according to an non-proliferation organization.

The general stated the missile was in the sky for fifteen hours during the trial on 21 October.

He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were tested and were found to be up to specification, based on a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it displayed advanced abilities to bypass missile and air defence systems," the news agency stated the general as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was first announced in recent years.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a unique weapon with worldwide reach potential."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank commented the same year, the nation encounters significant challenges in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the nation's inventory likely depends not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists wrote.

"There have been multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident causing a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical referenced in the study claims the projectile has a range of between a substantial span, allowing "the missile to be deployed across the country and still be equipped to strike goals in the continental US."

The corresponding source also explains the weapon can fly as at minimal altitude as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, rendering it challenging for defensive networks to stop.

The projectile, designated an operational name by a Western alliance, is considered propelled by a reactor system, which is intended to commence operation after initial propulsion units have launched it into the sky.

An investigation by a reporting service last year located a site a considerable distance from the city as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Using orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert reported to the agency he had observed several deployment sites being built at the facility.

Associated Updates

• National Leader Approves Revisions to Nuclear Doctrine