The US Air Force recently completed an operational test of a prototype hypersonic missile that flies 5 times faster than the speed of sound.
The Pentagon announced last night (Monday) that the missile was released by a B-52 bomber in a test conducted on a beach in California.
According to the message, the bomber released the hypersonic missile: AGM-183A.
Not one.
Not two.
But three - in a row!
This latest successful flight test proves the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW)'s design and demonstrates its capability at hypersonic speeds.
pic.twitter.com/mpmRWX8S4S
— Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) December 12, 2022
This is the latest test of the advanced weapon while the US continues to compete with its strategic rivals against the background of the war in Ukraine.
The previous test was held in May and also in which the missile reached supersonic speed when launched from a B-52 bomber.
According to the US Air Force, after the bomber released the missile, it reached a supersonic speed that is 5 times the speed of sound, completed its flight path and exploded.
"Indications show that all objectives have been completed," the Pentagon said.
General Jason Bartolome, who is in charge of the armaments director, noted that the program is progressing rapidly after the Russians announced that they had used hypersonic missiles.
According to him, the plan to design and test the missile was completed within five years.
According to foreign media, an American security official said that Russia launched hypersonic missiles during the war in Ukraine and that China also conducted tests with these missiles.
However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied last October that it had conducted a test of the advanced weapon.
Iran also recently announced the development of a hypersonic ballistic missile.
Despite this, lawmakers in the US House of Representatives warned that it could fall behind in the development of the hypersonic missile against its competitors. The US military has several plans to develop hypersonic weapons in the sea, air and land forces.
However, most of them are in development stages and are kept under a shroud of secrecy.
The known programs deal with the development of a conventional hypersonic weapon that hits a target from a high altitude.
So far the only hypersonic weapon successfully tested by the US is the GM-183 ARRW missile developed to be launched from a bomber.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
