Moscow Reports Effective Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Weapon
The nation has evaluated the nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the nation's leading commander.
"We have conducted a extended flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the ultimate range," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov reported to the head of state in a broadcast conference.
The low-altitude advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to avoid anti-missile technology.
Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.
The national leader stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in last year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, just two instances had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, as per an arms control campaign group.
Gen Gerasimov reported the projectile was in the sky for fifteen hours during the test on October 21.
He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were found to be complying with standards, according to a national news agency.
"Therefore, it displayed superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source stated the official as saying.
The projectile's application has been the subject of intense debate in defence and strategic sectors since it was first announced in the past decade.
A recent analysis by a American military analysis unit concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would provide the nation a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."
Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank noted the identical period, Moscow encounters significant challenges in making the weapon viable.
"Its integration into the country's arsenal arguably hinges not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of securing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," specialists noted.
"There were several flawed evaluations, and a mishap causing several deaths."
A armed forces periodical cited in the analysis states the weapon has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the projectile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be capable to reach goals in the United States mainland."
The same journal also notes the projectile can fly as close to the ground as a very low elevation above the earth, making it difficult for defensive networks to engage.
The weapon, designated Skyfall by an international defence pact, is believed to be driven by a atomic power source, which is supposed to engage after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the air.
An examination by a media outlet last year pinpointed a location 295 miles above the capital as the likely launch site of the armament.
Using satellite imagery from last summer, an analyst told the agency he had detected several deployment sites in development at the site.
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