China Missile Test: China fired a missile from a hypersonic weapon during a test in July, reports said.
The Financial Times reported that China fired a missile from a hypersonic weapon when it approached its target during a test in July, and said the Pentagon was surprised because no country was aware of it. to be able to this.
A supersonic aircraft launched by China fired projectiles over the South China Sea while traveling at five times the speed of sound, the newspaper reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported.
Some military experts believe an air-to-air missile was fired, the newspaper said. Others argue it’s a countermeasure that could compromise missile defenses’ ability to knock out hypersonic weapons, which can carry nuclear warheads, in a battle.
The Financial Times reported last month that China conducted tests of hypersonic weapons on July 27 and again on August 13, raising concerns in Washington about possible military development of Beijing. China’s foreign ministry said the country had tested “an ordinary spacecraft” to see if it could be reused.
If China’s hypersonic weapons tests are confirmed, it would suggest that President Xi Jinping may be exploring orbital strikes as a way to counter US advances in missile defense. Take down ballistic missiles before they can threaten the homeland of the United States. Last year, the US Navy successfully intercepted a fake intercontinental ballistic missile.
“I certainly can’t think of any technical precedent for a supersonic glide vehicle launching some kind of payload of some kind,” said Ankit Panda, Stanton senior fellow in the nuclear policy program at Carnegie. – implied to be a rocket in FT’s story”. Funding for International Peace.
“However, I wonder if this ‘missile’ could be some other kind of payload, perhaps a countermeasure or some other kind of support mechanism,” he said. Panda added that there are many questions about the military utility of such a demonstration and that the international community should not assume that China intends to deploy such weapons on the ground.
