Russia Confirms Successful Test of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Russia has tested the reactor-driven Burevestnik cruise missile, as reported by the country's senior general.

"We have launched a extended flight of a atomic-propelled weapon and it traversed a 14,000km distance, which is not the maximum," Chief of General Staff the general told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The terrain-hugging experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capacity to bypass anti-missile technology.

Western experts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and Russian claims of having effectively trialed it.

The head of state declared that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been carried out in 2023, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, merely a pair had partial success since the mid-2010s, according to an arms control campaign group.

The general reported the projectile was in the air for fifteen hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He explained the projectile's ascent and directional control were assessed and were found to be meeting requirements, according to a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it exhibited high capabilities to evade missile and air defence systems," the news agency quoted the official as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of heated controversy in armed forces and security communities since it was originally disclosed in recent years.

A 2021 report by a American military analysis unit concluded: "A reactor-driven long-range projectile would give Russia a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

Nonetheless, as a foreign policy research organization observed the same year, Moscow encounters significant challenges in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the nation's stockpile arguably hinges not only on surmounting the significant development hurdle of ensuring the reliable performance of the atomic power system," analysts wrote.

"There were multiple unsuccessful trials, and an accident leading to a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical referenced in the report claims the projectile has a range of between a substantial span, allowing "the weapon to be based across the country and still be able to reach targets in the United States mainland."

The same journal also notes the missile can fly as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above the earth, making it difficult for air defences to engage.

The missile, code-named a specific moniker by a Western alliance, is thought to be powered by a reactor system, which is designed to activate after initial propulsion units have propelled it into the air.

An inquiry by a news agency the previous year pinpointed a facility a considerable distance from the city as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Using orbital photographs from the recent past, an analyst reported to the service he had detected several deployment sites in development at the location.

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