MOSCOW TESTS NEW HYPERSONIC CRUISE MISSILE -- Along the same line, Russia recently conducted a test of a long-range missile with a new jet-powered last stage. The flight test of the road-mobile SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) took place from a launch site in central Russia two weeks ago. U.S. officials said the missile's flight took an unusual path: Its last stage was an ultra- high-speed cruise missile that flew within the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of about 100,000 feet. Officials familiar with intelligence reports of the SS-25 flight test said it involved firing the road-mobile missile nearly into space and then having its last stage drop down to within the atmosphere and flying at supersonic speed to the Kamchatka impact range. "It looks like the Russians were testing scramjet technology," said one intelligence official. A "scramjet," short for supersonic-combustion ramjet, is a high-powered jet engine capable of reaching speeds of five times the speed of sound Mach 5 or more. The scramjet missile may be part of Russia's efforts to develop non-nuclear or conventional precision-guided long-range missiles.. The SS-25 ballistic missile has three stages and a post-boost vehicle carrying the warhead. It has a maximum range of more than 7,000 miles.
The United States is currently working on its own version of a hypersonic cruise missile that uses scramjet technology and will travel at speeds of Mach 5 or higher. A scramjet space aircraft is also being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (Jonkers)
(Wash Times 30 July 01, pg 1 //B. Gertz)
В России разработана практически неуязвимая...
Модераторы: Neoxygen, gloom, MegaMax
