Russia Announces Successful Trial of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the country's leading commander.

"We have launched a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it covered a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov informed the head of state in a broadcast conference.

The terrain-hugging advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to bypass anti-missile technology.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The head of state said that a "final successful test" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

The general reported the missile was in the air for fifteen hours during the test on October 21.

He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were found to be complying with standards, according to a national news agency.

"Therefore, it displayed superior performance to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the news agency reported the general as saying.

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

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would provide the nation a singular system with global strike capacity."

Yet, as an international strategic institute noted the corresponding time, the nation encounters considerable difficulties in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the nation's inventory potentially relies not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the reliable performance of the atomic power system," experts wrote.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an incident leading to a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical cited in the analysis claims the projectile has a range of between a substantial span, allowing "the missile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be capable to target goals in the American territory."

The corresponding source also says the projectile can operate as low as 164 to 328 feet above ground, making it difficult for air defences to engage.

The projectile, designated Skyfall by a Western alliance, is believed to be propelled by a reactor system, which is supposed to commence operation after primary launch mechanisms have sent it into the sky.

An investigation by a reporting service recently pinpointed a site 295 miles north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the missile.

Utilizing space-based photos from last summer, an expert informed the agency he had detected several deployment sites being built at the site.

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