The US military conducted a successful test launch of a rocket with experiments for the development of hypersonic weapons at the Wallops Flight Test Facility in Virginia on Wednesday.
The rocket carried out 11 different experiments designed to test and collect data for research into hypersonic weapons to support the joint Army-Navy program, the Navy said.
This was the second test carried out under the program focused on the development of maritime and land hypersonic capabilities. The first test was carried out in October 2021.
In this test, a sounding rocket was fired from the launch pad, performing different experiments to collect data and gather information about hypersonic missile components, including heat-resistant materials and cutting-edge electronics.
“Today’s launch went extremely well,” said Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, director of Strategic Systems Programs who oversaw the test. “Actually, we’ve just analyzed our main observables, and all the data we wanted to collect — at least preliminarily — showed that we collected all of that data.”
A second rocket is scheduled to launch on Thursday and will conduct 13 additional experiments designed to inform the development of hypersonic weapons, the Navy said.
The data collected from these tests will help in the development of the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic system and the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon. The two programs will use the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, a projectile carried on top of a booster rocket that approaches its target at speeds in excess of Mach 5.
Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or approximately 6,437.3 kilometers per hour, making them difficult to detect and intercept in time. Missiles can also maneuver and vary altitude, allowing them to evade missile defense systems.
The Pentagon has made the development of hypersonic weapons one of its top priorities after China carried out successful hypersonic launches last year and Russia began using hypersonic missiles in its war in Ukraine.
After China tested a hypersonic weapon in 2021, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, called the test “a very significant technological event” that is just one element of China’s military capabilities.
“Chinese military capabilities are much greater than that,” Milley said in October 2021. “They are rapidly expanding into space, cyberspace, and then into the traditional realms of land, sea, and air.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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