SSX-C-9 Skyfall, a Russian cruise missile with a nuclear power plant, better known as the Petrel, passed a series of tests at one of the test sites in northwestern Russia, EDNews.net reports citing Bulgarian Military News.
This is evidenced by an article by Popular Mechanics, which reports that the iodine-131 isotopes detected in the air are of artificial origin, and taking into account the wind map, the tests were most likely conducted in the Arkhangelsk region, where the test site is located.
“Officials in Finland, Norway and Sweden have discovered artificial radionuclides, that is, radionuclides that are not found in nature. Iodine-131 was detected at air monitoring stations in Svanhovd and Wikshofjell, Norway, as well as at a nuclear weapons monitoring facility in Svalbard” the article’s author said.
“An analysis by the Dutch National Institute of Public Health indicates that the source of radiation is the western part of Russia. Authorities believe that the leak, first discovered in early June, comes from western Russia. One version is that the test is somehow related to a new cruise missile with a nuclear installation,” the author also said.
On the presented map of the detection of Iodine-131 isotopes, it can be seen, taking into account the direction of the winds, that most of the radioactive fallout was detected over Russia, Finland, the Baltic States, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Nevertheless, the Russian side has not yet confirmed the tests and any connection with the release of radioactive particles into the atmosphere.
What is Petrel crusie missile
“A low-flying, barely noticeable cruise missile carrying a nuclear warhead, with an almost unlimited range, an unpredictable flight path and the ability to bypass intercepting lines is invulnerable to all existing and promising missile defense and air defense systems. This is just fantastic. Nobody in the world has anything like it yet.”
Burevestnik (9M730) [Petrel – ed.] is a Russian intercontinental cruise missile equipped with a nuclear power plant, possessing an unlimited flight range, and capable of evading enemy interceptors.
It is with the “Petrel” that some experts attribute the explosion at the Nenox military training ground near Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Region, on August 8, 2019.
In March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a message to the Federal Assembly, demonstrated samples of new weapons, among which was a “global-range cruise missile with a nuclear power plant”.
“A low-flying, barely noticeable cruise missile carrying a nuclear warhead, with an almost unlimited range, an unpredictable flight path and the ability to bypass intercepting lines is invulnerable to all existing and promising missile defense and air defense systems. This is just fantastic. No one in the world has anything like it yet,” Putin assured. The foreign press immediately started talking about “Putin’s nuclear superweapon.”
After some time, the Ministry of Defense on the site invited the Russians to choose a name for the new cruise missile. According to the results of the vote, the rocket received the name “Petrel”.
According to official figures from the Department of Defense, the development of the Petrel was launched in 2001 after the United States withdrew from the 1972 ABM Treaty in December 2001 as a response to the creation of the US global missile defense system.
