Pentagon officials first recognized some of the capabilities of the hypersonic missile, which Trump described as traveling 17 times the speed of sound.
A senior defense official told CNN that Trump has taken a special interest in the missile, revealing that Trump’s fastest “17-fold” figure stems from a test of a “hypersonic gliding body” over the Pacific in March, a test the Pentagon officially described as “successful” while revealing little additional information.
“What he was really talking about was the recent flight test we conducted in March where we flew 17 times the speed of sound,” said the senior defense official.
But the U.S. effort still lags behind the already deployed weapons systems of Moscow and Beijing, with an unlikely American missile by 2023.
Hypersonic missiles are traditionally defined as missiles that travel at least five times the speed of sound, which is more than 3,800 miles per hour, and are considered highly maneuverable and capable of operating at different altitudes.
Trump has touted the missile the Pentagon is developing on at least three separate occasions, referring to it as a “super duper” missile capable of traveling 17 times faster than anything currently in the United States’ missile arsenal.
“We have a … I call it the ‘super-duper missile.'” And I listened the other night, 17 times faster than what they have now, “Trump said in May.
Much more difficult to defend against
Given their tremendous speed and maneuverability in the atmosphere, hypersonic missiles are considered particularly difficult to defend against using conventional anti-missile defense systems, which are designed to counter and intercept traditional ballistic missile threats, the trajectory of which is much more predictable than their hypersonic counterparts.
“Trying to defend against a hypersonic vehicle, that uncertainty in the trajectory becomes very difficult to handle and the defenses become very difficult because you combined very high speed with the uncertainty in the flight trajectory,” a senior official told CNN. of defense of the United States.
The senior defense official revealed that Trump’s fastest figure “17 times” stems from a test of a “hypersonic gliding body” over the Pacific in March, a test the Pentagon described as “successful.”
“What he really meant was the recent flight test we conducted in March where we flew 17 times the speed of sound,” said the senior defense official.
The official said Trump “receives information” on the details of the hypersonic weapons program, and said that “he is aware of and supports the progress we are making.”
“There is support and interest at the presidential level in what we are doing,” the official said.
However, the U.S. military is still several years away from deploying a hypersonic weapon, with a target date of at least 2023, while adversaries from the United States, Russia, and China claim they have already deployed such weapons.
Russia said it placed its nuclear-capable hypersonic missile known as “the Avangard” in “combat service” late last year.
Chinese missile development
And China recently displayed its hypersonic weapon, the DF-17, during a recent military parade.
The United States has recognized that it needs to catch up with Moscow and Beijing, and the Pentagon has requested billions for the development of the weapon.
“I have full confidence that we will catch up, and we are investing in hypersonics,” Deputy Secretary for Defense of Strategy, Plans and Capacities Vic Mercado told CNN, saying that Russian and Chinese capabilities were an important planning factor for the Pentagon. .
The senior official told CNN that the reason the United States lagged behind China and Russia in the hypersonic arms race is that the United States made a conscious decision to avoid adapting hypersonic technology to weapons until relatively recently. In time, a change fueled by the embrace of arms by Moscow and Beijing.
For four or five decades, “The United States has been a world leader in hypersonic technology. But we have always avoided making the decision to transition that technology to war applications,” said the senior defense official.
“What helped us make the decision is that, you know, hey, adversaries have made the decision to develop their hypersonic systems, and that really creates a potential asymmetry in warfighting capabilities that we simply cannot allow ourselves to bear. if we want to make sure we maintain our military dominance, “the official said.
The US hypersonic weapons program focuses primarily on two types of missiles, a “skid reinforcement system” derived from a traditional ballistic missile and a hypersonic cruise missile.
Tremendous range
The impulse slip system, which was tested in March, places a maneuverable glide vehicle on top of a ballistic missile, giving the missile much greater maneuverability at hypersonic speed.
The weapon is considered to have a tremendous range, 1,000 miles or more, but is more expensive and larger than the cruise missile variant.
The other type of hypersonic missile the United States is working on is a hypersonic cruise missile and is much more like a traditional cruise missile like the Tomahawk missile, a weapon long used by the military to attack enemy targets.
Hypersonic missiles would travel up to ten times faster than the Tomahawk missile currently in the military arsenal.
The senior defense official said a test of the cruise missile would be conducted later this year.
The official said both weapons could work in concert, as longer-range glide missiles eliminate an enemy’s air defense systems, allowing American fighter jets armed with hypersonic cruise missiles to fly closer and attack a greater number of enemy targets.
According to American officials, an important difference between planned American weapons and the Chinese and Russian variants is that American missiles are not designed to be nuclear.
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