According to US Space Agency Deputy Secretary of State David Thompson, US hypersonic weapons are currently “not as advanced” as China and Russia, but are areas where the Marine and Air Force are “working.”
At the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada on November 20, Thompson said Russia and China were ahead of the United States in developing supersonic missiles, making it difficult to target missiles. Therefore, he admitted that the “principle of strategic warning” would be complicated. Warning Activates the system.
“If you combine it with a partial orbital bombing system, [the missile] You can go around the world and attack you, “Thompson said. “Even if I could track the maneuvering weapon … it’s been maneuvering all the time, so I don’t know the target until the very end.”
Thompson cites many reasons why the United States is lagging behind in the development of hypersonic weapons, including “bureaucracy” built into the defense system. The fact that the United States has not had “strategic competitors” for decades has driven us to move “quickly.” And the development of “extreme risk and the opposite attitude” when developing defense technology for cost.
He said the United States is in a position to “accept a little more risk of failure so that it can speed up the process” and “take a different approach to system acquisition, fielding, and operating systems” to accelerate cycle time. I said it was necessary.
In the report on October 17th Financial TimesThe Chinese army explained in August this year that it “launched a rocket equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle, flew in low earth orbit, and then cruised toward the target.”
The US Navy and Army reported on October 20 that they had successfully tested a prototype hypersonic weapon component.
According to the Pentagon, three successful tests “demonstrated advanced hypersonic technology, features, and prototype systems in realistic operating environments.”
These statements were made following two failed tests of the Air Force’s air-launch-to-hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, a key component needed to develop hypersonic weapons.
“Both success and failure experiments and tests are the backbone for developing very complex and important technologies at tremendous speeds, as we do with hypersonic technologies,” said a Pentagon spokesman. I am. Told Defense News In the statement.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said on September 23:According to that goal ” statement Obtained at the outlet.
“The goal set we want to address, and why hypersonic aircraft are the most cost-effective weapons for the United States, I still think it’s a question mark to me,” Kendal said in aviation, space, and cyber. I told reporters at the meeting. “I haven’t seen all the analyzes done to justify the current program.”
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