"It puts this thing within range of Russia," Special Operations Command Europe's Lt. Col. Lawrence Melnicoff was quoted as saying of the new parachute dropped long-range missile which was tested. "We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory."

"We're trying to deter Russian aggression, expansionist behavior, by showing enhanced capabilities of the allies," he added in the comments given to military magazine Stripes.

The experimental weapon system and program is called Rapid Dragon, and on Wednesday it was successfully test-fired at Norway's Andoya Space Range, which is the country's premiere far-northern weapons testing site.