Moscow Confirms Accomplished Trial of Atomic-Propelled Storm Petrel Missile

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range missile, as reported by the nation's senior general.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traveled a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Senior Military Leader the general told President Vladimir Putin in a public appearance.

The low-altitude prototype missile, initially revealed in the past decade, has been hailed as having a possible global reach and the capability to avoid anti-missile technology.

Western experts 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 held in last year, but the statement could not be independently verified. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, only two had partial success since several years ago, based on an arms control campaign group.

The general reported the projectile was in the air for 15 hours during the test on the specified date.

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were tested and were confirmed as meeting requirements, based on a domestic media outlet.

"As a result, it exhibited superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the news agency reported the general as saying.

The weapon's usefulness has been the focus of intense debate in military and defence circles since it was originally disclosed in the past decade.

A recent analysis by a US Air Force intelligence center concluded: "An atomic-propelled strategic weapon would give Russia a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."

However, as a global defence think tank noted the same year, Moscow faces major obstacles in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the nation's arsenal potentially relies not only on overcoming the significant development hurdle of securing the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists noted.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and a mishap leading to a number of casualties."

A defence publication quoted in the report claims the projectile has a range of between 6,200 and 12,400 miles, permitting "the weapon to be stationed across the country and still be equipped to reach objectives in the continental US."

The identical publication also says the missile can operate as low as 50 to 100 metres above the surface, causing complexity for aerial protection systems to stop.

The weapon, code-named Skyfall by an international defence pact, is believed to be driven by a nuclear reactor, which is designed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the sky.

An inquiry by a reporting service last year located a location 295 miles north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Using orbital photographs from last summer, an analyst informed the outlet he had observed multiple firing positions being built at the site.

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