As of: 10/19/2021 5:08 p.m.
China denies reports of hypersonic missile tests – but US experts do not believe the declaration “civil space travel”. The Foreign Office reacted with concern, Army officials already feared for US supremacy.
Obviously, neither the US military nor the secret services had expected this. That China is experimenting with nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons – weapons that, at least in theory, could shut down the US defense system and hit targets on the North American continent. The response from the Pentagon was accordingly narrow-lipped.
And the spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price, expressed concern: “We have always said that we are very concerned about the rapid expansion of China’s nuclear potential.” This also included the new types of transport systems, according to Price. All the more so since China lacks transparency.
The Financial Times had previously reported, citing five anonymous sources, that China had tested a hypersonic missile capable of nuclear weapons. The rocket circled the earth once in a low orbit and then missed its target by about 15 kilometers, the report said.
The Chinese government immediately denied the report, stating that it was a routine experiment with a spaceship.
MIT expert assumes missile system
“The answer is strange because this organization typically announces its space launches on their social networks,” Taylor Fravel, an international security expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), told CNN. He doesn’t believe in a harmless spaceship experiment.
“China has tested what is known as a missile system for dropping bombs. It can be used to position a rocket in space, aim at its target from orbit, and thus enormously extend its range,” says Fravel. “In addition, the direction of the missile can be changed. Instead of over the North Pole, this missile can fly over the South Pole and thus avoid the US missile defense system.”
Congressmen are alarmed
Hypersonic weapons are particularly difficult to intercept because they can reach more than five times the speed of sound. Both North Korea and Russia are already testing similar technologies. The US is also developing hypersonic weapons, but it seems to be lagging a little behind the others.
The US Air Force Chief of Staff, Charles Brown Jr., warned at a recent meeting that the US Air Force’s superiority could wane in the next few years: “China is actively working to undermine our competitive advantage. For the Chinese government, the national stands Security is paramount, “he said, adding,” This includes economic reforms, weapon upgrading, and reforms of strategies, doctrines, recruitment, training and human capital development. “
Not only is the Department of Defense worried, US Congressmen are also alarmed. For Mike Gallagher, Republican MP from Wisconsin, the Chinese tests are a wake-up call: he insisted that if the US continued on its inactive course, it would lose the new Cold War with China within this decade.