“We have no idea how they did it” – Corriere.it

In August, a rocket carried a device into space that circled the earth before descending against its target: China’s progress in hypersonic weapons caught the services off guard

It is a Chinese hypersonic vehicle with nuclear capability the new nightmare of the American intelligence services.

A rocket in August Long March it has carried into space, in a low orbit, a device that it has made a tour around the Earth before descending against the target set for the test.

The target was missed by about thirty kilometers, according to American surveys, but the most alarming problem is that China’s progress in hypersonic weapons has completely taken the services off guard of information.

“We have no idea how they managed to perform such a test,” a source told al Financial Times
.

Hypersonic bombs, which fly between five and six times faster than sound, up to 6,200 kilometers per hour, they are considered the “next generation” of strategic weapons; they are designed to steal reaction time from opponents and pierce anti-missile defenses.

Unlike ballistic missiles, which soar to very high altitudes in an arc trajectory before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and swooping toward the target, hypersonic weapons fly at lower altitudes and they can reach the enemy target more quickly, even changing course. They are a sort of glider-missile that with their speed, unpredictability of route and low flight altitude can beat the radar systems that alert anti-missile missiles over time.

Another operational detail revealed at Financial Times increases Washington’s concern: the Chinese vehicle it could theoretically fly over the South Pole, displacing the defense constituted by the Pentagon which is concentrated on the route of the North Pole. Conclusion of sources: If Chinese scientists complete the development of the hypersonic system and the People’s Liberation Army put it online, the strategic framework would be “destabilized”.

The Pentagon did not want to add details to the information coming from intelligence; spokesman John Kirby followed the usual line: “We are concerned about Beijing’s military capabilities which aggravate tensions in Asia and around the world, this is why we have called China our number one challenge”, he replied to a question from the London newspaper asking for confirmation of his own scoop.

The first Chinese reaction comes from the embassy in Washington: «Our strategy has always been defensive, we have no global military plans like the United States and we have no interest in engaging in an arms race. America makes excuses to create “the Chinese threat” and justify its military spending ».

Effectively, last September the Americans announced that they had successfully tested a new hypersonic weapon. This is the Hawc (acronym which stands for Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept). The missile, built by Raytheon Technologies, was “released” in flight from a plane a few seconds before the ignition of its autonomous jet, developed by Northrop Grumman. “The US Department of Defense has determined that hypersonic weapons and hypersonic counter capabilities are the highest technical priority for national security,” said Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense.

In July, it was Russia that successfully tested the Zircon, a hypersonic cruise missile. The Moscow Ministry of Defense released a photo of the test showing the Zircon taking off from the frigate Admiral Gorskhov, sailing in the White Sea. “This new generation of Russian weapons has no equal in the world,” congratulated Vladimir Putin. A few days ago the North Koreans also took the field, who announced they had launched their first hypersonic device.

At the moment, besides the rhetoric, the main feature of the Chinese hypersonic program appears to be secrecy. The Beijing Academy of Launch Technology has a habit of numbering the take-offs of Long March rockets. The 77th launch was reported on July 19; on 24 August the 79th. No news on mission number 78, the one that would launch the nuclear-capable hypersonic vehicle.

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