The US military conducted another test launch of a rocket carrying 11 experiments for hypersonic weapons developments at Virginia's Wallop Flight Test on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
The Wednesday came on the heels of the October 2021 test launch under a program that seeks to develop land- and sea-based hypersonic capabilities.
The US Navy said the experiments were conducted to inform the research of hypersonic weapons development, CNN reports.
Second Test
The launch test went as planned, Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, the director of Strategic Systems Programs, said.
Wolfe said it looks like all the needed data to be collected were already generated during Wednesday's test.
These series of tests are expected to generate all the data to help the Navy in developing the Conventional Prompt Strike system at hypersonic speed. It will also help design the Army's Long Range Hypersonic Weapon.
Both programs will employ the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, a new weapons system where a rocket with a projectile heads towards an enemy position at a speed greater than Mach 5. A Mach 5 travels at a speed of 4,000 miles per hour.
The Navy said that a second test launch for 2022 will take place on Thursday, Oct. 27, with 13 more experiments.
Top Priority
The US Department of Defense is scrambling to develop its own hypersonic weapons system after Russia began using hypersonic missiles in its Ukraine invasion early this year. China also conducted hypersonic launches with a degree of success last year.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called China's hypersonic weapon test a "significant technological event," an addition to China's growing military power.
China, Milley warned, is making its military presence everywhere, be it in space, cyberspace, land, sea, and air.
The Pentagon makes the hypersonic weapons program one of its top priorities.
At 4,000 miles per hour, hypersonic weapons can hit the enemy base, evading detection and a possible interception. The rocket can also vary its altitude and glides to evade any missile defense systems.
The New Arms Race
China and Russia have been into hypersonic weapons development for at least 10 years now. Both superpowers outside the Western influence were already deep into their respective hypersonic program.
Professor Alexander Fedorov of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology said an arms race had taken a new form in hypersonic weapons systems.
The United States, he said, revived its hypersonic program behind schedule with Russia and China, adding that the US is now trying to catch up.
The Biden administration, alarmed by the hypersonic weapons in the hands of Russians and Chinese, is pushing for hypersonic-related research funding in the 2022 budget.
For this year, Biden has requested an allocation of some $3.8 billion, which is bigger by 20% than Trump's budget of $3.2 billion in 2021.
The US Government Accountability Office said there are at least 70 initiatives to develop hypersonic weapons.
These superpower trends showed that hypersonic arms development, a relatively new technology, is the new arms race.
