The U.S. Navy and Army on Wednesday successfully launched a rocket equipped to conduct nearly a dozen hypersonic weapon experiments.
This is reported by Reuters.
As reported by the US Navy, the research institution Sandia National Laboratories conducted tests from NASA's Wallops Flight Complex in Virginia. The tests evaluated the hypersonic weapon's communications and navigation equipment, as well as advanced materials that can withstand high temperatures in "real-world hypersonic flight conditions."
The Pentagon's current test was intended to test future aspects of the Navy's conventional fast-strike and the Army's long-range hypersonic weapons.
Hypersonic weapons are launched at a speed at least five times the speed of sound (approximately 300 meters per second). It is considered a new generation of weapons, which deprives the enemy of time to react and renders ineffective traditional means of anti-missile defense.
The US is rapidly developing a hypersonic weapon after its rivals - Russia and China - have already reported on its successful testing and adoption.
To accelerate the development, the Pentagon is conducting experiments using a sound missile - a smaller and, accordingly, more affordable test tool that allows you to "fill the gap" between ground tests and full-fledged flight tests.