Russians Tested New Type Of Ballistic Missile: Report

SPACEWAR

AFP File Photo: A Russian strategic missile Topol-M (SS-25) in upright position ready to get launched at Plesetsk training ground, June 1994. According to a report in The Washington Times Russia is now looking at how to upgrade the SS-25 using new - as yet unperfected - scramjet technologies.

Washington (AFP) July 30 2001
Russia tested a long-range missile two weeks ago that included as its final stage a new high-speed cruise missile designed to beat US missile defenses, the Washington Times reported Monday, citing intelligence sources.

The Times said US intelligence officials viewed the launch as Russia's answer to US plans to develop defenses against long-range missiles by intercepting them in space.

The report drew a no comment from Pentagon spokespeople, who said they do not discuss intelligence reports as a matter of policy.

The Times said the road-mobile SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from central Russia and tracked to an impact site several thousand miles away in the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The newspaper said the missile's last stage was a new high-speed cruise missile that flew within the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of about 100,000 feet (33,000 meters).

"It looks like the Russians were testing scramjet technology," a US intelligence official was quoted as saying.

Scramjet is short for supersonic combustion ramjet, a new technology that is designed to achieve speeds of more than five times the speed of sound.

In theory, the jet creates thrust by igniting hydrogen gas with air scooped up at high speed.

A test of a NASA scramjet prototype, the X-43A, failed on June 2 when it veered out of control.

SPACEWAR

Russia Test Launches RS-18 ICBM

Moscow (AFP) Jun 27, 2001
Russia launched a test inter-continental ballistic missile Wednesday from its Baikonur testing range in the ex-Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, news agencies reported.

X-43A Pegasus Failure Investigation Continues

Edwards - July 23, 2001
The board investigating the June 2 X-43A mission loss is continuing to meet at the Orbital Sciences Corp. facility in Chandler, Ariz., where the Pegasus-derived booster rocket used with the X-43A was built.

Scramjets Could Rocket Australia Into 21st Century

Sydney - Jan. 6, 2001
Dr. Allan Paull and his crew at the University of Queensland's Centre for Hypersonics are about to make the first test flight of their brand new toy - the world's first operational scramjet. If the thing works, the UQ scramjet will be the fastest air-breathing engine ever built, capable of pushing aircraft along at up to ten times the speed of sound.

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