Russia Reports Accomplished Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, according to the country's top military official.

"We have conducted a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Senior Military Leader Valery Gerasimov reported to the head of state in a public appearance.

The low-flying advanced armament, originally disclosed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a theoretically endless flight path and the capacity to evade missile defences.

International analysts have previously cast doubt over the weapon's military utility and Moscow's assertions of having effectively trialed it.

The national leader said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been conducted in last year, but the assertion was not externally confirmed. Of a minimum of thirteen documented trials, just two instances had limited accomplishment since several years ago, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

The military leader said the weapon was in the atmosphere for 15 hours during the evaluation on October 21.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were tested and were determined to be up to specification, based on a domestic media outlet.

"Consequently, it exhibited advanced abilities to circumvent missile and air defence systems," the outlet reported the commander as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of vigorous discussion in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A 2021 report by a foreign defence research body determined: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would offer Moscow a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

However, as an international strategic institute observed the same year, the nation confronts considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its induction into the state's arsenal likely depends not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of guaranteeing the dependable functioning of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists stated.

"There have been several flawed evaluations, and an incident causing multiple fatalities."

A military journal referenced in the report claims the weapon has a flight distance of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, allowing "the missile to be deployed anywhere in Russia and still be capable to reach goals in the United States mainland."

The same journal also explains the weapon can operate as low as 164 to 328 feet above the earth, rendering it challenging for air defences to stop.

The missile, designated Skyfall by a foreign security organization, is considered powered by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the air.

An inquiry by a reporting service the previous year identified a site 475km above the capital as the probable deployment area of the armament.

Utilizing orbital photographs from August 2024, an expert told the service he had identified nine horizontal launch pads in development at the facility.

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