US successfully tests air-breathing hypersonic weapon

WASHINGTON • The United States has tested a hypersonic air-breathing weapon capable of speeds faster than five times that of sound, marking the first successful test of the class of weapon since 2013, the Pentagon said.

The test took place as the US and its global rivals quicken their pace to build hypersonic weapons - the next generation of arms that rob adversaries of reaction time and traditional defeat mechanisms.

In July, Russia said that it had successfully tested a Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile, a weapon touted by President Vladimir Putin as part of a new generation of missile systems without equal in the world.

The free flight test of the hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept (HAWC) occurred last week, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, said in a statement on Monday.

"This brings us one step closer to transitioning HAWC to a programme of record that offers next generation capability to the US military," said Mr Andrew Knoedler, HAWC's programme manager.

There is no target date for that transition, but Mr Knoedler told Reuters: "We are readying our next vehicles and working towards additional flight tests later in the year."

Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper atmosphere at speeds of more than five times that of sound, or about 6,200kmh.

"The missile, built by Raytheon Technologies, was released from an aircraft seconds before its Northrop Grumman scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine kicked on," Darpa said.

"The Department of Defence has identified hypersonic weapons and counter-hypersonic capabilities as the highest technical priorities for our nation's security," said Mr Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon's missiles and defence business unit.

REUTERS