Moscow Reports Accomplished Test of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state's leading commander.

"We have launched a prolonged flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official the commander told the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The low-flying experimental weapon, initially revealed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the ability to bypass anti-missile technology.

International analysts have in the past questioned over the projectile's tactical importance and the nation's statements of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader declared that a "last accomplished trial" of the armament had been conducted in last year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, merely a pair had limited accomplishment since 2016, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov said the weapon was in the sky for 15 hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He explained the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were determined to be up to specification, based on a national news agency.

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

The missile's utility has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was initially revealed in the past decade.

A recent analysis by a foreign defence research body determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a foreign policy research organization observed the corresponding time, Russia confronts significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its integration into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of ensuring the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts stated.

"There have been multiple unsuccessful trials, and a mishap resulting in multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the study states the projectile has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the projectile to be deployed across the country and still be able to target targets in the continental US."

The same journal also explains the weapon can operate as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, making it difficult for defensive networks to engage.

The weapon, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is considered powered by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a news agency recently pinpointed a facility 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Utilizing satellite imagery from the recent past, an specialist reported to the agency he had detected nine horizontal launch pads being built at the facility.

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