Russia Confirms Successful Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, according to the state's top military official.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it covered a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude prototype missile, originally disclosed in 2018, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the capacity to avoid defensive systems.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the weapon's military utility and the nation's statements of having accomplished its evaluation.

The national leader declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the weapon had been held in the previous year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had moderate achievement since several years ago, as per an arms control campaign group.

The general said the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He noted the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were determined to be complying with standards, as per a national news agency.

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

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in 2018.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would offer Moscow a singular system with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a foreign policy research organization commented the same year, the nation confronts considerable difficulties in achieving operational status.

"Its entry into the nation's stockpile potentially relies not only on overcoming the substantial engineering obstacle of ensuring the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," analysts noted.

"There were several flawed evaluations, and an incident leading to multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical cited in the study asserts the weapon has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the projectile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to target objectives in the American territory."

The corresponding source also explains the projectile can fly as low as 50 to 100 metres above ground, causing complexity for air defences to intercept.

The projectile, referred to as an operational name by a Western alliance, is thought to be powered by a atomic power source, which is intended to engage after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the air.

An inquiry by a news agency the previous year pinpointed a location a considerable distance north of Moscow as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Employing satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst reported to the service he had observed nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the location.

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