The Russian Federation can prepare for the launch of a rocket with a nuclear engine: what is known about "Petrel" - NYT

The latest satellite images capture extraordinary activity on one of the landfills in the Arctic. Probably, Russia prepares a rocket test with a jet-nuclear engine. Russia can be prepared for testing an experimental winged rocket with a nuclear engine. Its theoretical shooting range is more than 3000 km. About it reports The New York Times. At a remote landfill in the Arctic, satellite images and aviation data indicate that the Russian Federation is either prepared for testing or already conducted.

Journalists say that the analysis of satellite data is similar to the same data when preparing for testing for the "Petrel" rocket, which is classified in the West under the name SSC-X-9 SkyFall, in 2017 and 2018. American observations have been watching the actions of the Russian Federation for the last two weeks, aviation is recommended to avoid Russian airspace over the Arctic. According to a report on nuclear threat initiative, the rocket should become "a second strategic range weapon.

" It is designed to blow after nuclear missiles destroy other goals. The warhead can be both nuclear and ordinary. Experts believe that the "brownish" can destroy the whole area of ​​the city or a military object. In this case, the nuclear charge should be less than in rockets of this class. It is unknown exactly how the "Petrel" is built. The Dictator of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin stated. that the rocket has a nuclear plant.

Therefore, it is believed that the rocket starts on a solid fuel rocket engine, and then a small nuclear reactor is activated in the flight, which should expand the time in the theory. "Petrel" is one of the six strategic weapons, along with others, such as the ballistic missile "dagger" and the Avangard hypersonic aircraft, which was shown in 2018. The pictures taken in the morning of September 20 show numerous vehicles that are present on the starting ground, including a trailer truck.

It is probably a rocket on it, because the size of the cargo is the same. On September 28, the pictures again showed high activity on the object. In addition, the two Russian planes used to collect rocket launches were parked about 160 km south of the launch site at Rogachevo. They were recorded in early August. Until September 26, they were there. It was also during the trials of the "storm" in 2018. The authors also point out that all the previous 13 trials of the "Petrel" ended with failure.