By: EFE Updated 15 May 2022, 23: 57 pm EDT
The United States Air Force announced that it successfully tested a hypersonic weapon, which reached speeds five times the speed of sound. The test occurred on 15 in May at the Edwards area base in the state of California.
The subsonic strategic bomber “B-23 Stratofortress”, manufactured by Boeing, was able to successfully launch a missile hypersonic “AGM-300 ARRW”, is designed to reach a speed greater than 15,300 miles per hour.
JUST IN: The US Air Force says it successfully fired a hypersonic weapon. A B-52 bomber launched the Lockheed Martin-made Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon. The ARRW missile flew at more than five-times the speed of sound pic.twitter.com/UCmFbMPtD6
— Marcus Weisgerber (@MarcusReports) May 17,
It is the first time that the US has successfully tested a hypersonic weapon, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jungquist said in a statement, who directs one of the programs for the development of this type of weapon.
“Our highly qualified team made history with this first air-launched hypersonic weapon. We are doing everything we can to get this revolutionary weapon ready for the battlefield as soon as possible,” said Jungquist.
Currently, the US is engaged in an arms race with China and Russia in the field of hypersonic weapons, which due to their speed are more difficult to detect by missile defense systems.
Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom -countries that make up the AUKUS security alliance- announced in April that they will cooperate to develop hypersonic weapons, something that was received with concern by China.
Washington had already announced in October 2021 who was looking for hypersonic technology to counter China’s advances in this area, after reports that Beijing was testing such missiles.
According to the British newspaper Fin Former Times, China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August last year.
Later, Beijing denied having tested such a nuclear-capable missile and assured that they were “ routine tests” to verify aerospace reuse technologies.
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