Hypersonic weapons are the latest trend. The U.S., Russia, and China all have them, and other countries have been researching about them. But now North Korea is also claiming to have the ability to create them. There are reports that North Korea recently tested its hypersonic missiles and supposedly they are fully functional as well as accurate.
“The test launch clearly demonstrated the control and stability of the hypersonic gliding warhead which combined the multi-stage gliding jump flight and the strong lateral movement. Having been detached after its launch, the missile made a 120 km lateral movement in the flight distance of the hypersonic gliding warhead from the initial launch azimuth to the target azimuth and precisely hit a set target 700 km away,” a report in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper claimed.
“Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.
“The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command acknowledged the missile test in a statement but did not confirm it represented new hypersonic technology.
“While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies, the ballistic missile launch highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s illicit weapons program,” the statement said. “The U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad.”
At the Pentagon, spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. is still assessing what exactly North Korea tested.
“We actually don’t have a greater level of detail about this particular launch other than that we have every reason to believe it was a ballistic missile launch, which, of course, is a violation of various U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Kirby said.”
“While North Korea appears to have made progress in the development of a hypersonic missile, it still needs more test flights to determine whether it meets its tactical objectives or how advanced a hypersonic weapon it could develop, said Lee Choon Geun, an expert and honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.
A photo of the launch shows that the upper parts of the missiles launched in September and this week have different shapes. Lee said this suggests that North Korea is testing two versions of warheads for a missile still under development or it is actually developing two different types of hypersonic missiles.”
North Korea is constantly threatening us and our allies. Hopefully, they are full of it and have not created any hypersonic weapons. But if true, we now have another adversary armed with a missile that can go Mach 5.
