Some specialists say it’s important to dive into the details of Russia’s program, starting with a debate about whether the Kinzhal missiles used in Ukraine should even be classified as hypersonic weapons. Leading up to the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to his country’s hypersonic program with far-reaching claims about how no missile defense system on earth could defeat Moscow’s newfangled weapons. So far, Russia is the only nation to use such a weapon in combat. Iranian officials last week presented what they said was their first domestically produced hypersonic ballistic missile, dubbed the “Fattah,” with a range of well over 800 miles. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in reference to the Soviet Union’s 1957 satellite launch that sparked a space race between Moscow and Washington.Įven Iran has jumped into the game. I don’t know if it’s quite a Sputnik moment, but I think it’s very close to that,” Gen. “What we saw was a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapon system, and it is very concerning. The test caught Pentagon leaders by surprise. In the summer of 2021, China launched into space a hypersonic missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload. Last month, Chinese researchers claimed that their country’s hypersonic weapons could destroy a U.S. and its allies in a potential conflict in the Pacific.īeijing has left little doubt that it sees hypersonics as a key piece of its strategy to defeat the U.S. China has also made huge investments in hypersonics in the hopes that such weapons could give the communist nation an edge over the U.S.
adversary pursuing hypersonic weapons, which can travel at least five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5. “A lot of what the Russians have been saying has been overinflated, shall we say? But … we should absolutely not look at the performance of their systems and try to draw any analogies to our systems.” “It just means that the Russian systems are very limited,” he told reporters in a briefing last week. “I’ve heard people say, ‘Oh, does that mean that hypersonics don’t work as effectively as you’ve been saying?’ No, it doesn’t mean that at all,” Mr. researchers say they are playing the long game and aren’t dissuaded by Russia’s failings. in their ability to field hypersonic systems, but those systems are not usually ready for prime time. Experts say Russia and China appear to be ahead of the U.S. Indeed, the truth seems much more complicated.
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