A test of a hypersonic missile from China over the summer “went around the world,” the second most senior US general said in an interview released Tuesday, releasing new details about the test and warning that the China might one day be able to launch a surprise nuclear strike against the US.
“They launched a long-range missile,” General John Hyten, retired vice president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS News. “He went around the world, launched a hypersonic vehicle that glided into China, which impacted a target in China.”
When asked if the missile hit its target, Hyten said, “That was close enough.”
Hyten, who once called the pace at which the Chinese military develops capabilities “stunning,” warned that one day they might have the capability to launch a surprise nuclear strike against the United States.
“Why are they building all this capacity?” Hyten said. “They look like single-use weapons. That’s what these guns look like to me.”
The test revelations come amid rising tensions over Taiwan as China seeks to expand its arms power. The Pentagon warned in a report released earlier this month that China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal and could have 1,000 nuclear warheads by the end of the decade.
The US currently has 3,750 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, according to the latest State Department data, surpassing the size of China’s nuclear arsenal.
China has denied testing hypersonic weapons.
In October, the Financial Times reported on a Chinese test of a hypersonic glider vehicle launched from a low-Earth orbit rocket, which theoretically could be able to evade US missile defense systems.
The speed with which the Chinese developed the system surprised US national security officials.
As China and Russia are developing their own versions of hypersonic missiles, the Pentagon has made the development of hypersonic weapons one of its top priorities.
A US hypersonic missile test failed last month, but the Pentagon insists on staying on course to deliver offensive hypersonic weapons well into the early 2020s.
*With information from CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Alex Marquardt
**This text has been translated. Read the original in English
Reference: CNN Brasil
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