The US military announced on Monday that it had successfully tested a hypersonic missile, a cutting-edge technology that China and Russia are also developing on their side.
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, the Air Force said.
"Complex Threat"
The United States is developing several supersonic weapons programs and Darpa, the scientific arm of the American army, tested a different type of hypersonic missile earlier this year.
Hypersonic missiles, capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to a precise target, are designed to fly at high speed and low altitude, and to change direction in flight and not follow a linear and predictable trajectory, which makes their interception more hard.
China tested a hypersonic missile in 2021 that circled the Earth in orbit before descending to its target, which it only missed by a few miles.
Russia has for its part claimed to have twice used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine and North Korea also claims to have carried out flight tests.
"Supersonic weapons, designed to evade US sensors and defense systems, pose an increasingly complex threat due to their dual capability (nuclear and conventional), challenging flight path, and maneuverability."
, warned the United States in a recent report.