Russia Confirms Effective Test of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Weapon

The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik strategic weapon, as reported by the nation's top military official.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Top Army Official the commander informed President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude prototype missile, first announced in the past decade, has been described as having a possible global reach and the capacity to evade defensive systems.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader said that a "final successful test" of the missile had been conducted in the previous year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, as per an non-proliferation organization.

Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the atmosphere for fifteen hours during the evaluation on 21 October.

He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were determined to be up to specification, based on a national news agency.

"As a result, it displayed high capabilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the media source stated the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the focus of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was initially revealed in the past decade.

A 2021 report by a foreign defence research body stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would provide the nation a singular system with global strike capacity."

However, as a foreign policy research organization noted the corresponding time, Russia confronts major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the state's arsenal potentially relies not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the consistent operation of the atomic power system," analysts stated.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap causing a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical quoted in the study states the projectile has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the weapon to be stationed throughout the nation and still be capable to reach targets in the continental US."

The identical publication also says the projectile can fly as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above ground, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.

The weapon, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to engage after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the air.

An investigation by a news agency the previous year located a location 295 miles above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.

Using orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert told the agency he had detected several deployment sites being built at the location.

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