Russia is starting preparations for conducting flight tests of the newest Petrel cruise missile operating on a nuclear engine. It is capable of hitting targets at any distance from the base. Information provided by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
"Guided by the design requirements, the researchers conducted ground tests of the component elements of the experimental cruise missile samples. The development of the latest weapons is carried out according to the plan," the department shared information.
Now the main task is to fulfill the conditions for the possibility of a trial run. The final goal of the project is to create an entirely new type of cruise missiles, which operate on the nuclear principle. The leading scientist of the 12th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense, Sergei Pertsev, said that the results obtained during the development were successful.
Features of the device
An inconspicuous cruise missile has an unlimited flight range, and its nuclear combat component cannot be hit by anti-aircraft weapons.
The development of the project was started in 2001 by decree of the President of the Russian Federation (V. Putin). This happened after the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems.
The new device is an unmanned aerial vehicle for one-time launch. Previously, they were called projectiles. The advantage of such missiles was the ability to set any course, changing even the flight path. They can fly at low altitudes, skirting various obstacles. Modern models are able to hit targets with great accuracy.
But there are certain drawbacks: such missiles are rather slow, and their cost is quite high.
For the first time the idea to create such a device came up with René Loran in 1910. And only a few years later all the conditions appeared in order to bring the idea to life.
