The public should be concerned that China has completed hundreds of hypersonic missile tests while the United States has completed less than ten, according to America’s second-highest ranking military officer, echoing previous concerns by top military brass, according to the Daily Mail.
According to the Daily Mail, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Hyten expressed concern about China’s hypersonic missile advancements at a Defense Writers Group roundtable.
“What you need to be worried about is that in the last five years, or maybe longer, the US has done nine hypersonic missile tests, and in the same time the Chinese have done hundreds,” Hyten was quoted as saying.
“Single digits versus hundreds is not a good place,” he said without further elaborating on his concerns.
Last week, it was revealed that a rocket failure delayed the US military’s test of its hypersonic weapons system.
According to ABC News, the military planned a test of its Army-Navy common hypersonic glide body in Kodiak, Alaska, but it did not launch.
Meanwhile, intelligence sources claim that China conducted a second test of a suspected hypersonic orbital missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
The new test, which is thought to have taken place on August 13, involved a ‘hypersonic glide vehicle’ similar to one launched into space on board a Long March rocket in July, as first reported earlier this week by the Daily Mail.
The new technology is said to have taken US officials by surprise, especially because the system ‘defies the laws of physics’ and appears to be superior to anything in the American arsenal.
The pace at which China is moving, according to Hyten, is “stunning.”
