Moscow Confirms Effective Evaluation of Nuclear-Powered Storm Petrel Missile

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the state's senior general.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude advanced armament, initially revealed in recent years, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the ability to avoid defensive systems.

Foreign specialists have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The national leader stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in the previous year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov reported the weapon was in the air for 15 hours during the test on October 21.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were confirmed as up to specification, as per a national news agency.

"Therefore, it exhibited high capabilities to circumvent anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet reported the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the subject of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was first announced in the past decade.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body determined: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would offer Moscow a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Yet, as a global defence think tank noted the corresponding time, the nation faces major obstacles in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the nation's arsenal likely depends not only on resolving the considerable technical challenge of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the atomic power system," specialists noted.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an incident leading to several deaths."

A defence publication quoted in the study states the weapon has a operational radius of between 10,000 and 20,000km, permitting "the missile to be deployed throughout the nation and still be able to strike goals in the continental US."

The same journal also explains the weapon can fly as close to the ground as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, making it difficult for defensive networks to intercept.

The projectile, code-named Skyfall by a Western alliance, is thought to be propelled by a reactor system, which is designed to commence operation after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the air.

An examination by a media outlet recently pinpointed a facility 475km from the city as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Using satellite imagery from last summer, an specialist told the agency he had detected several deployment sites being built at the location.

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