The US military announced Monday that it has successfully tested a hypersonic missile, a cutting-edge technology that China and Russia are also developing on their own.
The AGM-183A ARRW hypersonic cruise missile was launched Friday from a B52 strategic bomber off the coast of California and reached “a hypersonic speed five times the speed of sound, followed its flight path and exploded in the planned area,” said the Air Force.
Capable of delivering a nuclear weapon
The United States is developing several supersonic weapons programs, and Darpa, the US military’s scientific arm, tested a different type of hypersonic missile earlier this year.
Capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to a precise target, hypersonic missiles are designed to fly at high speed and low altitude, and to change direction in flight rather than follow a linear, predictable trajectory, making it difficult to intercept.
Russia, North Korea, China…
China tested a hypersonic missile in 2021 that circled the Earth in orbit before descending on its target, missing by only a few miles. Russia, for its part, has claimed to have twice used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine and North Korea also claims to have conducted flight tests.
“Supersonic weapons, designed to evade US sensors and defense systems, pose an increasingly complex threat due to their dual capabilities (nuclear and conventional), challenging flight path, and maneuverability,” the United States warned in a recent report. .
Source: BFM TV
