New Delhi, (Asian independent) The public should be worried that China has completed hundreds of hypersonic missile tests while the US has done less than 10, says America’s second-highest ranking military officer, echoing previous concerns by top military brass, the Daily Mail reported.
Speaking at a Defense Writers Group roundtable, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Hyten said China’s hypersonic missile advancements is an area of concern, according to the Daily Mail report.
“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.
It was revealed last week that a rocket failure caused a delay in the US military’s test of its hypersonic weapons system.
The military scheduled a test of its Army-Navy common hypersonic glide body in Kodiak, Alaska but it failed to launch, ABC News reported.
Meanwhile, China conducted a second test of a suspected hypersonic orbital missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, intelligence sources have claimed.
The new test is believed to have taken place on August 13 and involved a similar ‘hypersonic glide vehicle’ to one launched into space on board a Long March rocket in July, which was first reported earlier this week, the Daily Mail reported.
The new technology is reported to have caught US officials off guard, particularly as the system ‘defies the laws of physics’ and appears superior to anything in the American arsenal.
Hyten said the pace in which China is moving was “stunning”.