US military conducts test launch of hypersonic experiments for weapons development - CNN

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The US subject conducted a palmy trial motorboat of a rocket with components for hypersonic weapons improvement astatine the Wallops Flight Test Facility successful Virginia Wednesday.

CNN —

The US subject conducted a palmy trial motorboat of a rocket with experiments for hypersonic weapons development astatine the Wallops Flight Test Facility successful Virginia Wednesday.

The rocket carried 11 antithetic experiments designed to trial and cod information for hypersonic weapons probe to enactment the associated Army-Navy program, the Navy said.

This was the 2nd trial carried retired nether the programme focused connected processing some oversea and land-based hypersonic capabilities. The archetypal trial was conducted successful October 2021.

In this test, a sounding rocket was fired from the launchpad, carrying retired antithetic experiments to stitchery information and cod accusation connected components of hypersonic missiles, including heat-resistant materials and high-end electronics.

“The motorboat contiguous went highly well,” said Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, the manager of Strategic Systems Programs who oversaw the test. “As a substance of fact, we’ve conscionable gotten done looking done our cardinal observables, and each portion of information that we wanted to cod - astatine slightest preliminarily - has shown that we collected each that data.”

A 2nd rocket is scheduled for motorboat connected Thursday and volition transportation retired an further 13 experiments designed to pass hypersonic weapons development, the Navy said.

The information collected from these tests volition assistance successful the improvement of the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic strategy and the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon. The 2 programs volition some usage the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, a projectile carried atop a booster rocket that coasts towards its people astatine speeds greater than Mach 5.

Hypersonic weapons question astatine speeds greater than Mach 5, oregon astir 4,000 miles per hour, making them hard to observe and intercept successful time. The missiles tin besides maneuver and alteration altitude, allowing them to evade rocket defence systems.

The Pentagon has made the improvement of hypersonic weapons 1 of its apical priorities aft China conducted palmy hypersonic launches past twelvemonth and Russia has begun to usage hypersonic missiles successful its warfare successful Ukraine.

After China tested a hypersonic limb successful 2021, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley called the trial “a precise important technological event” that is conscionable 1 constituent of China’s subject capabilities.

“The Chinese subject capabilities are overmuch greater than that” azygous test, Milley said successful October 2021. “They’re expanding rapidly successful space, successful cyber and past successful the accepted domains of land, oversea and air.”