US conducts 'successful' test of hypersonic missile

technology

The United States successfully tested hypersonic missile technology, a new weapons system which is
already being deployed by China and Russia, the US Navy said Thursday. The test, conducted
Wednesday at a NASA facility in Wallops, Virginia, is a "vital step in the development of a Navy-
designed common hypersonic missile," the navy said in a statement. "This test demonstrated
advanced hypersonic technologies, capabilities, and prototype systems in a realistic operating
environment," it said. Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic missiles, can fly more than five
times the speed of sound (Mach 5). But they are more maneuverable than their ballistic counterparts
and can trace a low trajectory in the atmosphere, making them harder to defend against.
Ambassador Robert Wood, US permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament,
expressed concern earlier this week following reports that China had conducted a test in August of a
hypersonic missile with nuclear capacity. According to the Financial Times, China launched a
hypersonic missile that completed a circuit of the planet before landing, missing its target. "We are
very concerned by what China has been doing on the hypersonic front," said Wood, who next week
steps down from his post in Geneva after seven years.
China insisted that the test was a routine one for a spacecraft rather than a missile. Wood said Russia
also had hypersonic technology and while the United States had held back from developing a military
capacity in this field, it now had no choice but to respond in kind.
"If you're a country that's the target of that, you're going to want to figure out a way to defend
yourself from that," he said.
"And so we start looking at what other applications and defensive applications can you bring to
hypersonic technology -- and so that continues to things to accelerate the arms race."
China unveiled a hypersonic medium-range missile, the DF-17, in 2019, which can travel around
2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and can carry nuclear warheads.
The missile mentioned in the FT story is a different one, with a longer range. It can be launched into
orbit before coming back into the atmosphere to hit its target. Russia recently launched a hypersonic
missile, the Zircon, from a submarine, and since late 2019 has had the hypersonic nuclear-capable
Avangard missiles in service.
The Avangard can travel at up to Mach 27, changing course and altitude. The Pentagon hopes to
deploy its first hypersonic weapons by 2025 and has said their development is one of its "highest
priorities."