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.
