Russia Confirms Successful Test of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Weapon

Moscow has trialed the atomic-propelled Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.

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

The low-altitude experimental weapon, first announced in the past decade, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to evade anti-missile technology.

Western experts have previously cast doubt over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

The national leader stated that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been held in last year, but the statement lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since several years ago, according to an disarmament advocacy body.

The general said the weapon was in the air for fifteen hours during the trial on the specified date.

He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were determined to be up to specification, as per a domestic media outlet.

"Consequently, it demonstrated superior performance to bypass defensive networks," the news agency stated the commander as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was first announced in 2018.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit stated: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a singular system with intercontinental range capability."

Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization noted the same year, Moscow encounters considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its integration into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the dependable functioning of the atomic power system," experts stated.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing several deaths."

A military journal referenced in the study states the projectile has a operational radius of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the weapon to be deployed throughout the nation and still be able to reach objectives in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also says the weapon can fly as low as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, rendering it challenging for air defences to engage.

The projectile, designated a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is believed to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to activate after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the air.

An investigation by a media outlet recently identified a location 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Utilizing satellite imagery from August 2024, an expert told the outlet he had identified several deployment sites under construction at the location.

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