US Army, Navy Hold 3 Tests to Advance Hypersonic Missiles: Pentagon

The U.S. Army and Navy tested several hypersonic limb constituent prototypes that volition find the improvement of caller weapons, the Department of Defense confirmed connected Thursday, saying that 3 of the tests were deemed successful.

The Pentagon, successful a connection to Reuters, said the Sandia National Laboratory ran the tests from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility successful Virginia. The tests volition help “inform the improvement of the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) and the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) violative hypersonic strike,” the connection continued.

The tests “demonstrated precocious hypersonic technologies, capabilities, and prototype systems successful a realistic operating environment,” the Pentagon besides said.

All 3 tests that were carried retired were successful, the bureau said.

White House officials earlier this week had expressed concerns that China was investigating a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide weapon, coming aft the Financial Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the authorities tested a limb successful August that circled astir the satellite successful abstraction earlier dropping altitude and hitting its target. The limb missed.

In different report published Wednesday, the Financial Times, citing “two radical acquainted with the matter,” said China carried retired a 2nd hypersonic glide conveyance connected Aug. 13. The archetypal trial was reportedly carried retired successful precocious July, the study said.

The Chinese authorities done its authoritative channels denied the Financial Times report, claiming it was a trial of a abstraction vehicle, and not a rocket oregon different weapon.

Hypersonic weapons tin question successful the precocious ambiance astatine astir 3,850 miles per hour, oregon immoderate 5 times the velocity of sound. The United States has attempted to prosecute specified exertion for decades to instrumentality successful its planetary onslaught program.

In the meantime, defence contractors including Raytheon and Lockheed Martin person been moving to make a hypersonic limb for the United States.

The White House and Department of Defense person not responded to a petition for remark connected China’s alleged hypersonic testing. No national authorities officials person publically confirmed the tests.

Earlier this week, erstwhile asked by reporters astir the Chinese authorities obtaining specified weapons exertion portion leaving Washington for Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden responded successful the affirmative. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the medication is precise acrophobic astir China’s atomic capableness and “novel transportation systems.”

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), successful expressing interest astir reports that China tested hypersonic technology, said the “weapons are strategical game-changers with the unsafe imaginable to fundamentally undermine strategical stableness arsenic we cognize it.”

“The implications of these weapons nether improvement by China oregon Russia could beryllium catastrophic,” King was quoted by media outlets arsenic saying.

U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood stated that Washington is acrophobic that the United States has not developed a means to antagonistic China’s imaginable deployment of hypersonic weaponry.

“Hypersonic exertion is thing that we person been acrophobic about, the imaginable subject applications of it and we person held backmost from pursuing, we had held backmost from pursuing subject applications for this technology,” Wood said astatine a press meeting successful Geneva earlier successful the week.

“But we person seen China and Russia pursuing precise actively the use, the militarization of this technology, truthful we are conscionable having to respond successful benignant … We conscionable don’t cognize however we tin support against that technology. Neither does China, neither does Russia.”

The Epoch Times has contacted the Pentagon for further remark connected the 3 tests.