Here in the United States, we have long considered ourselves to be on the cutting edge of mast technologies, and most certainly near the pinnacle of what can be achieved militarily. In fact, it is largely believed that for every piece of military technology that we knew about, there is something in development that is at least a few decades more advanced than they’re willing to tell us about.
But that’s not to say that other global superpowers aren’t catching up. In fact, Russia has long boasted that their hypersonic, nuclear-capable rockets are “unstoppable”, as they would shriek past US defenses at a rate of speed this would be impossible to intercept.
Scarier still: It appears as though China has now joined the invincible rocket race.
China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in a move that caught U.S. intelligence by surprise, according to a new report.
The missile launched in August and circled the globe before speeding towards its target, which it missed by about two-dozen miles according to three individuals briefed on the intelligence. Two of those individuals said the test showed how far China has progressed on hypersonic weaponry – farther that U.S. officials realized.
Reactions from the US intelligence sector were telling.
“We have no idea how they did this,” one individual told The Financial Times.
The Pentagon also released a statement that was equally as jarring:
“We have made clear our concerns about the military capabilities China continues to pursue, capabilities that only increase tensions in the region and beyond,” John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Fox News. “That is one reason why we hold China as our number one pacing challenge.”
China has attempted to deny that this test was aimed at creating a nuclear-capable rocket, instead suggesting that this was nothing more than the launch of a “space vehicle”.
