Moscow Announces Successful Trial of Reactor-Driven Storm Petrel Cruise Missile

Moscow has trialed the reactor-driven Burevestnik long-range missile, as stated by the nation's top military official.

"We have conducted a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it traversed a 8,700-mile distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told the Russian leader in a televised meeting.

The low-altitude prototype missile, initially revealed in 2018, has been portrayed as having a potentially unlimited range and the capability to avoid defensive systems.

International analysts have earlier expressed skepticism over the projectile's tactical importance and the nation's statements of having successfully tested it.

The national leader said that a "concluding effective evaluation" of the armament had been carried out in last year, but the claim lacked outside validation. Of over a dozen recorded evaluations, merely a pair had partial success since several years ago, as per an disarmament advocacy body.

The general stated the missile was in the air for a significant duration during the trial on October 21.

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoeuvring were assessed and were determined to be meeting requirements, based on a domestic media outlet.

"Therefore, it exhibited superior performance to bypass anti-missile and aerial protection," the outlet reported the commander as saying.

The projectile's application has been the focus of heated controversy in defence and strategic sectors since it was originally disclosed in 2018.

A previous study by a US Air Force intelligence center determined: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."

Yet, as a foreign policy research organization observed the same year, Russia confronts considerable difficulties in developing a functional system.

"Its entry into the state's stockpile likely depends not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the reliable performance of the reactor drive mechanism," specialists stated.

"There were numerous flight-test failures, and an accident causing multiple fatalities."

A armed forces periodical referenced in the analysis states the projectile has a flight distance of between a substantial span, permitting "the projectile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be able to reach targets in the United States mainland."

The corresponding source also explains the projectile can operate as close to the ground as 50 to 100 metres above ground, causing complexity for air defences to engage.

The projectile, code-named an operational name by a foreign security organization, is considered driven by a atomic power source, which is intended to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have propelled it into the atmosphere.

An investigation by a reporting service the previous year identified a site 475km above the capital as the possible firing point of the missile.

Employing orbital photographs from August 2024, an analyst informed the service he had identified nine horizontal launch pads in development at the location.

Associated Updates

• President Authorizes Modifications to Nuclear Doctrine