Moscow Confirms Effective Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Weapon

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the nation's top military official.

"We have launched a prolonged flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the general reported to the head of state in a public appearance.

The low-altitude advanced armament, initially revealed in the past decade, has been described as having a possible global reach and the ability to bypass missile defences.

Western experts have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Moscow's assertions of having successfully tested it.

The president stated that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been conducted in last year, but the claim was not externally confirmed. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had limited accomplishment since the mid-2010s, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader said the missile was in the sky for a significant duration during the test on the specified date.

He said the projectile's ascent and directional control were evaluated and were confirmed as meeting requirements, as per a national news agency.

"Therefore, it demonstrated advanced abilities to evade missile and air defence systems," the media source reported the official as saying.

The projectile's application has been the subject of heated controversy in military and defence circles since it was initially revealed in recent years.

A previous study by a foreign defence research body determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would offer Moscow a unique weapon with global strike capacity."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank noted the corresponding time, Moscow faces significant challenges in achieving operational status.

"Its induction into the nation's stockpile potentially relies not only on resolving the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the consistent operation of the nuclear-propulsion unit," analysts stated.

"There were several flawed evaluations, and an incident resulting in several deaths."

A armed forces periodical cited in the analysis asserts the missile has a range of between a substantial span, permitting "the weapon to be deployed across the country and still be able to reach objectives in the United States mainland."

The same journal also says the missile can operate as at minimal altitude as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.

The projectile, designated Skyfall by an international defence pact, is thought to be powered by a atomic power source, which is intended to activate after initial propulsion units have launched it into the air.

An investigation by a media outlet last year located a location 295 miles above the capital as the probable deployment area of the weapon.

Using orbital photographs from last summer, an analyst told the outlet he had detected several deployment sites in development at the location.

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