US tests hypersonic missile which flies '17 times faster than the speed of sound'

The United States defence officials reportedly revealed that they tested a hypersonic missile that President Donald Trump has long touted as a ‘super-duper’ new military weapon. According to an international media outlet, a senior defence official called the testing a ‘success’ and added that the missile flew 17 times faster than the speed of sound. The official also informed that test was initially tested back in March over the Pacific Ocean, however, very little additional information was revealed. 

According to reports, the US President has taken a special interest in the missile and he even oft-cited the test that the Pentagon had described being as ‘successful’. While Donald Trump has repeatedly made comments about a supersonic missile that is faster than any other missile, the defence official reportedly said that missiles being developed by the United States will not be nuclear-capable. Even with the fastest missile, it was also noted that the American effort still lags behind those of Moscow and Beijing’s already fielded weapons systems. 

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US plans to conduct 40 flight test 

As per reports, the hypersonic missiles are traditionally defined as missiles that travel at least five times the speed of sound, which is more than 3,800 miles per hour. Given the tremendous speed and ability to manoeuvre in the atmospheres, the hypersonic missiles are also seen as particularly hard to defend against using conventional missile defence systems. While speaking to the media outlet, the official said that trying to defend against a hypersonic vehicle becomes very difficult to deal with as high speed and uncertainty in-flight trajectory are combined together. 

The US military is still years away from fielding a hypersonic weapon, however, the officials have targeted to complete the project by 2023. Although, back in June Department of Defence Director Research and Engineering for Modernization, Mark Lewis reportedly said that the US is looking to conduct its first test flights of completed hypersonic prototype weapons by 2025 with deployable weapons by the second half of the decade. Furthermore, as per reports, the US Defence Department plans to carry out at least 40 flight test of hypersonic mission over the Pacific Ocean in the next four years. 

(Image: Rep/Pixabay) 

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