US military says successfully tested hypersonic missile
The US Defense Department says it has successfully tested an unarmed hypersonic missile, a weapon that could potentially overwhelm other missile defense systems.
The Pentagon said Friday the test was conducted successfully on Thursday in the US state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean.
The test missile flew along the upper atmosphere to a designated impact point at hypersonic speeds, which is over five times the speed of sound, the Pentagon said.
"Today we validated our design and are now ready to move to the next phase towards fielding a hypersonic strike capability," Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, the director of the US Navy strategic systems programs, said in a statement.
The Pentagon, which tested a similar hypersonic missile in 2017, has a goal of fielding hypersonic technology in the early to mid-2020s
Hypersonic weapons can take missile and nuclear warfare to a new and more threatening level since they can travel much faster than current ballistic and cruise missiles, at different altitudes and with the maneuverability that makes them difficult to track and target with current missile defense systems.
Both Russia and China are developing similar military capabilities as they seek to field the technology and erode America’s military dominance.
In December, Russia declared it had placed into service their first Avangard hypersonic missile, making it the first country to claim an operable hypersonic weapon. China is also investing significantly in the development of hypersonic glide vehicles.
Russia is planning to modernize its strategic and conventional weapons in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal in August from the Soviet-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which bans the two sides from developing land-based missile systems ranging from 310 to 3,400 miles.
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