China shocks US with hypersonic missile test
The United States is "very concerned" about China's hypersonic missile tests, US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said Monday, after reports that Beijing launched one with a nuclear capacity in August. On Saturday, the Financial Times reported that China had launched a hypersonic missile that completed a circuit of the planet before landing, missing its target.
Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic missiles, can fly more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). But they are more manoeuvrable than their ballistic counterparts and only need a low trajectory in the atmosphere, making them harder to defend against.
The United States is already working on adding hypersonic missiles to its arsenal. Darpa, the US army's scientific wing, recently announced successful tests of what it called a HAWC missile (Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept). The missile uses oxygen in the atmosphere as part of its fuel. It is also developing a hypersonic glider, known as ARRW (pronounced "arrow"), but its first major test in April ended in failure.
China unveiled a hypersonic medium-range missile, the DF-17, in 2019, which could travel around 2,000 kilometres and could carry nuclear warheads.
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.
