China's hypersonic test shows unprecedented capability: FT report

BEIJING • China fired a missile from a hypersonic weapon as it approached a target during a test in July, the Financial Times reported, adding that the Pentagon was surprised because no nation was known to have the capability.

A hypersonic glide vehicle launched by China fired the projectile over the South China Sea while moving at five times the speed of sound, the FT said, citing people familiar with the intelligence.

Some military experts believe an air-to-air missile was fired, the newspaper said. Others thought it was a countermeasure that could hurt the ability of missile defence systems to knock out the hypersonic weapon, which can carry a nuclear warhead, in a battle.

FT last month said that China held hypersonic weapons tests on July 27 and Aug 13, raising concern in Washington about Beijing's advancing military capabilities.

China's Foreign Ministry last month said the nation had tested "a routine spacecraft" to see if it was reusable, an assertion that ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian repeated at a regular press briefing yesterday.

In an effort to dismiss the idea that the spacecraft had launched anything, Mr Zhao added: "After separating from the spacecraft before its return, the supporting devices will burn up when they are falling in the atmosphere."

If the tests of hypersonic weapons are confirmed, it would suggest that Beijing may be exploring orbital strikes as a way to counter American advancements in shooting down ballistic missiles before they can threaten the US homeland.

Last year, the US Navy successfully intercepted a mock intercontinental ballistic missile.

"I certainly can't think of any technical precedent to a hypersonic glide vehicle releasing some sort of payload - implied to be a missile by the FT story," said Mr Ankit Panda, the Stanton senior fellow in the nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"I do wonder... if this 'missile' may have been some other sort of payload, perhaps a countermeasure or some other sort of support mechanism," he said.

He also said the international community should not assume that China intends to deploy such a weapon in the field.

BLOOMBERG