Sources familiar with the effort said today (Wednesday) the US Air Force successfully tested the Lockheed Martin hypersonic missile this week, days after a similar attempt failed. The test comes against a backdrop of growing concern that Russia and China have had more success developing their own hypersonic missiles.
Hypersonic weapons travel at several times the speed of sound, which in theory would make them very difficult to detect using conventional techniques.
On June 29, the United States Department of Defense confirmed that a flight test of a hypersonic missile system in Hawaii had failed due to a problem that occurred after detonation.
The test, conducted at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, was designed to launch the Common Hypersonic Glide Body atop a two-stage rocket booster.
The booster is specially designed to launch the system and take it to speeds in excess of Mach 5.
At that moment the sliding body comes loose and uses its speed to reach the target.
Putin regularly brags about his country’s advanced hypersonic technology, boasting last month that Russia has missiles that “no other country has.”
In March, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its Khinzal hypersonic ballistic missile had destroyed a large underground weapons depot in western Ukraine.
If accurate, it marked its first use in the Kinzhal, which translates to Dagger in English, where the missile was likely launched from the air via a MiG-31 fighter jet.
James Acton, nuclear policy specialist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said at the time, “I don’t think it’s that important.
“I don’t know how much Russia gains from using hypersonic missiles.”
In 2019, Putin said the purpose of such weapons was “to reliably protect Russia and our fellow citizens from external and domestic threats, clearly anticipate potential risks and challenges and improve their performance gradually and consistently”.
In a speech at the Grand Kremlin Palace, he said workers who produced the weapons were “critical to the state.”
He added: “Our military and navy have proven their high readiness, but we intend to build our defense capability and deploy hypersonic, laser and other advanced weapons that no other country has.
“However, this is no reason to threaten anyone. On the contrary, we are willing to do our best to advance the disarmament process using these new weapons, which were created exclusively to ensure our security in the face of increasing threats to our country.”
Putin, who ordered his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, has nevertheless raised eyebrows in recent days with his increasingly combative language, not least his challenge to the West to send its soldiers to take Russia’s on the battlefield. to meet.
(More to follow)