Russia Reports Accomplished Test of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile

The nation has evaluated the atomic-propelled Burevestnik strategic weapon, as stated by the country's leading commander.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a vast distance, which is not the maximum," Top Army Official Valery Gerasimov reported to the Russian leader in a broadcast conference.

The low-flying prototype missile, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the ability to evade defensive systems.

Foreign specialists have in the past questioned over the missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The head of state said that a "final successful test" of the weapon had been held in the previous year, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, just two instances had partial success since 2016, based on an arms control campaign group.

The military leader said the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the trial on the specified date.

He explained the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were evaluated and were determined to be up to specification, as per a local reporting service.

"As a result, it displayed high capabilities to evade defensive networks," the outlet reported the general as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of vigorous discussion in armed forces and security communities since it was first announced in recent years.

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

Yet, as a global defence think tank observed the corresponding time, the nation confronts significant challenges in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into the state's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of ensuring the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," experts stated.

"There have been multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident resulting in multiple fatalities."

A military journal cited in the report states the weapon has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, enabling "the missile to be stationed throughout the nation and still be able to strike goals in the United States mainland."

The same journal also explains the weapon can travel as low as 164 to 328 feet above the surface, rendering it challenging for aerial protection systems to stop.

The missile, code-named Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is believed to be powered by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have sent it into the atmosphere.

An inquiry by a reporting service last year pinpointed a location 475km from the city as the possible firing point of the armament.

Employing satellite imagery from the recent past, an analyst informed the outlet he had detected multiple firing positions under construction at the facility.

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