China just tested a hypersonic
weapon the US can’t defend against
China has successfully tested a new hypersonic aircraft that would likely make a mockery of US missile defense systems in battle. The experimental “waverider” vehicle, China’s first, rides the shock waves generated during hypersonic flight. It could one day carry multiple nuclear warheads.
According to state media reports published yesterday, the test was in northwestern China last Friday. The Starry Sky 2 was first carried airborne by a solid-propellant rocket. After separation, it glided back to down to earth at speeds reaching 7,344 km per hour (4,563 mph), displaying a high degree of maneuverability along the way.
The US’s existing missile defense systems, criticized for their high price and spotty track record, struggle to intercept more conventional projectiles, much less hypersonic aircraft, which travel in a less predictable manner and are hard to detect.
This is the first time China has officially confirmed its development of “waverider” technology, though it has been working on hypersonic glide vehicles since 2014...
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Admiral Harry Harris, former head of the US Pacific Command and now the ambassador to South Korea, said in February, “China’s hypersonic weapons development outpaces ours… we’re falling behind.”
In March, air force general John Hyten, commander of US Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, “We don’t have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us.”
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