The Pentagon is alarmed by China's hypersonic weapons after a similar US military test fails

The highest-ranking general, Mark A. Milley, called China's tests of nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons "very worrying" this summer, tests that have further strained relations with the United States and revealed the extent to which the Chinese regime is developing its military capabilities.

"What we saw was a very significant event in a test of a hypersonic weapons system," said Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during an interview with Bloomberg Television.

"

. It has our full attention," said the general, referring to the satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957 and with which he advanced in the space race with USA.

Mark A. Milley, during his appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee.Patrick Semansky / AP

The comparison reflects the

of the government of President Joe Biden about China's arms potential.

The Financial Times was the first to report last week that China had carried out two tests with hypersonic weapons in August, including the launch into space of a hypersonic weapon capable of carrying a nuclear charge and that it remained in orbit for a period of an hour. time to return to Earth.

China denied it and argued that it was a space test.

What is a hypersonic weapon?

Hypersonic weapons operate at a speed at least five times that of sound, at more than 3,700 miles per hour, according to the newspaper El País, and are extremely difficult to detect and intercept because they exceed the capabilities of traditional missile defenses. .

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They could be used like this to send nuclear warheads over the South Pole or bypassing US anti-missile systems in the Northern Hemisphere, according to Bloomberg.

Milley reiterated that the United States is also "experimenting, testing and developing technologies" in military matters, and specifically cited "hypersonics, artificial intelligence and robotics."

But the Pentagon acknowledged on October 21 that its latest hypersonic test had failed.

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"Experiments and tests - both successful and unsuccessful - are the backbone of developing highly complex and critical technologies at tremendous speed, like what the department does with hypersonic technologies," he explained at the time. Department of Defense spokesman Tim Gorman announced.

China ahead of the US?

Milley assured that "the Chinese armament capacities are much greater" than the tests with hypersonic arms of summer.

And he acknowledged that China "

."

"It is a political signal to the United States," explained Petr Topychkanov, a researcher in the program on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute to the newspaper El País.

A television program shows archival footage of a North Korean missile launch on a screen at a Seoul train station on October 19, 2021. Lee Jin-man / AP

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Russia is also developing this technology.

In addition, the news of the Chinese hypersonic tests coincides with a moment of tension on the Korean peninsula due to the repeated ballistic tests that North Korea has carried out in recent weeks, perceived as another sign of defiance to Biden.