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In a statement, Pentagon said the booster stack, which is a rocket used to accelerate projectiles to hypersonic speeds, failed and tests of the projectile, the hypersonic launch body, could not proceed.
Because the rocket failed, the Pentagon was unable to test the hypersonic glide body, which is a key component needed to develop hypersonic weapons.
The test was conducted at the Pacific Space Port Complex in Kodiak, Alaska on Thursday local time. Officials began to review the test to understand the cause of the booster failure.
“Experimentation and testing — both successful and unsuccessful — is the backbone of highly complex critical technology development at incredible speed, as the department is doing with hypersonic technology,” said Tim Gorman, a Pentagon spokesman, in a statement. quoted from CNN, Friday (10/22/2021).
Flying at Mach 5 or faster, hypersonic weapons are difficult to detect, posing a challenge to missile defense systems. Hypersonic missiles can travel at much lower trajectories than high-arch ballistic missiles, which can be easily detected. Hypersonics can also maneuver and evade missile defense systems.
“This flight test is part of an ongoing series of flight tests as we continue to develop this technology,” Gorman said.
The Pentagon has made the development of hypersonic weapons one of its top priorities, especially as China and Russia are working to develop their own versions. The failure is another blow to US efforts after a failed test in April and comes days after China was reported to have successfully tested a hypersonic glide vehicle.
Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported that China had successfully tested a hypersonic glide vehicle capable of carrying nuclear weapons. They reported the glide vehicle was launched from an orbital bombing system. Although China denied the report, saying the test was just a routine spacecraft experiment .
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