Pentagon successfully tests unarmed hypersonic missile

WASHINGTON • The United States has successfully tested an unarmed prototype of a hypersonic missile, a nuclear-capable weapon that could accelerate the arms race between superpowers.

The Pentagon last Friday said a test glide vehicle flew at hypersonic speeds - more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5 - to a designated impact point.

The test followed the first joint US Army and Navy flight experiment in October 2017, when the prototype missile demonstrated it could glide in the direction of a target at hypersonic speed.

"We validated our design and are ready to move to the next phase towards fielding a hypersonic strike capability," Vice-Admiral Johnny Wolfe said in a statement.

Hypersonic weapons can take missile warfare, particularly nuclear warfare, to a new - and, for many, frightening - level.

They can travel much faster than current nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles at low altitudes, can switch direction in flight and do not follow a predictable arc like conventional missiles, making them harder to track and intercept.

Even as conventionally armed, non-nuclear weapons, they are viewed by analysts as raising the danger of conflict, because an adversary might not know how they are armed when launched.

The Pentagon is pressing to catch up with Moscow and Beijing in the race to develop hypersonics, even as it recognises these weapons could dangerously raise the risks of a nuclear conflict.

In its fiscal 2021 budget, the US Defence Department requested US$3.2 billion (S$4.6 billion) for hypersonic programmes, up from US$2.6 billion in the current year. The goal is a deployable hypersonic capability by 2023, though that could be difficult.

"Delivering hypersonic weapons is one of the department's highest technical research and engineering priorities," the Pentagon said.

The joint Army-Navy test was carried out on March 19 from the Pacific Missile Range facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The test was for the military's common-hypersonic glide body, or C-HGB weapon, designed to be launched from a rocket that could be land-, air-or sea-based.

In December, Russia declared it had placed into service its first Avangard hypersonic missile, making it the first country to claim an operable hypersonic weapon.

Russian officials had claimed in tests that the missile hit speeds of up to Mach 27, roughly 33,000kmh.

China is also investing significantly in their development. Last October, it displayed its DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle in its national day military parade.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE