Russian S-500 to engage targets at earth's outer layer

Russia's next-generation S-500 air defense system would be able to engage targets at the upper layer of the atmosphere, the chief engineer of defense corporation Almaz-Antey Pavel Sozinov said.

He said that Almaz-Antey's 25-year forecast provides for the S-500 to "be able to deal with the equipment that is not yet available today but can appear."

"We are talking about interception in the non-dense layers of the atmosphere, including in the upper layers of the atmosphere 100 kilometers [62 miles] from the Earth," Sputnik cited Sozinov as saying.

The S-500 Prometey is a cutting-edge anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile system. It is said to have a range of 600 kilometers. The system can simultaneously intercept up to ten ballistic and hypersonic missiles traveling at a speed of up to 7 kilometers per second.