Moscow Confirms Successful Evaluation of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Weapon

The nation has evaluated the reactor-driven Burevestnik strategic weapon, according to the country's leading commander.

"We have launched a extended flight of a reactor-driven projectile and it traveled a 14,000km distance, which is not the ultimate range," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a public appearance.

The low-flying advanced armament, initially revealed in 2018, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the capability to avoid missile defences.

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

The head of state said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the missile had been carried out in 2023, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had moderate achievement since the mid-2010s, based on an disarmament advocacy body.

Gen Gerasimov said the weapon was in the air for 15 hours during the evaluation on the specified date.

He said the weapon's altitude and course adjustments were assessed and were found to be meeting requirements, as per a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it demonstrated high capabilities to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the media source stated the general as saying.

The projectile's application has been the topic of vigorous discussion in military and defence circles since it was first announced in the past decade.

A 2021 report by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a distinctive armament with intercontinental range capability."

Nonetheless, as a global defence think tank commented the identical period, Russia faces major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the state's arsenal arguably hinges not only on surmounting the substantial engineering obstacle of securing the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," experts noted.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an incident resulting in a number of casualties."

A armed forces periodical cited in the report claims the missile has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, enabling "the weapon to be based anywhere in Russia and still be equipped to strike objectives in the American territory."

The same journal also says the weapon can fly as low as a very low elevation above the earth, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to intercept.

The projectile, referred to as a specific moniker by a foreign security organization, is thought to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is intended to commence operation after initial propulsion units have launched it into the atmosphere.

An examination by a news agency the previous year identified a facility a considerable distance from the city as the possible firing point of the weapon.

Utilizing orbital photographs from August 2024, an analyst informed the agency he had detected multiple firing positions being built at the location.

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