The Pentagon’s assistant director of hypersonic programs, Mike White, said the US will test supersonic weapons by the end of this year.

“(First in line. - RT ) we have tests of means for the Navy and ground forces, created as part of a program of rapid global non-nuclear strike, developed under the auspices of the apparatus of the Minister of Defense. The dates are classified, but trials will take place this year, ”White said.

According to White, the “planning block” will be tested - in particular, its “ability to meet the challenges of future military use.”

At the same time, a Pentagon spokesman noted that "before moving on to testing prototypes of weapons systems," the United States needs to continue "flight experiments."

“At the moment, we are still at the research, invention, development stage in working on all of our systems,” White added.

US Department of Defense R&D Director R&D Mark Lewis, in turn, noted that the Pentagon is also exploring "the production base of hypersonic programs for readiness for large-scale production of systems."

“We are developing prototypes. But large-scale production is a completely different matter, ”he emphasized.

Lewis added that the United States plans to create a university consortium that would attract “non-traditional players” to help in areas such as guidance, navigation and control, as well as developing materials for the production of hypersonic weapons.

It is worth recalling that the head of the US Armed Forces Strategic Command Admiral Charles Richard earlier announced the start of active testing of American hypersonic weapons in 2020. According to him, the current year is a turning point in the development and deployment of such weapons.

  • Pentagon
  • Reuters
  • © Al Drago

"The Department (Defense. - RT ) is beginning to decisively conduct flight tests in many areas and is preparing an industrial base for the production of these systems on a scale that services have operational capabilities in the near future," a military official wrote in front of the Senate Affairs Committee. armed forces.

"Increase the pace"

Analysts recall that work in the field of hypersound in the United States was still at a time when the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty) was in force, although Washington announced the activation of tests only now.

“At the moment, the American side is developing medium-range missiles with a planning hypersonic unit. The desire to conduct such work could very well become a reason for withdrawing from the INF Treaty.

Despite the fact that the US has just announced intensification of testing hypersonic weapons, in reality, such projects have been implemented for several years, ”military expert Vasily Kashin said in an interview with RT.

Recall that at the beginning of August last year, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the INF Treaty, accusing Russia of violating the agreement because of 9M729 missiles. However, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in January of the same year revealed the technical characteristics of these weapons, which confirmed their compliance with the provisions of the INF Treaty, but Washington ignored this.

Meanwhile, as the head of the Russian defense department, Sergei Shoigu, noted, the United States budgeted funds for the development of missiles that violate the INF Treaty almost a year before the White House withdrew from the treaty.

“In fact, eight months, almost a year before this decision was made, the budget (USA. - RT ) allocated funds for the development of such missiles, approved, allocated and aimed at starting the development of these missiles,” Shoigu said on the Russia 24 television channel ".

According to Vasily Kashin, Washington identified hypersonic weapons as “one of the important priority areas for the development of military equipment” back in the mid-2000s.

“In the middle of the past nine years, this aspect has already been mentioned in a number of statements and publications. And some work in the field of hypersound was even earlier. Now this process is accelerating and entering the final stage. Washington is trying to increase the pace of development of this industry, since the first samples of hypersonic weapons have already been deployed in Russia and China, ”the expert explained.

Two steps behind

At the same time, the United States itself has repeatedly admitted that it lags behind Russia and China in the field of hypersonic technologies.

According to Mike White, the United States fell behind the Russian Federation and China after the two countries moved from developing hypersonic technologies to their practical application.

  • US Navy
  • Flickr
  • © Official US Navy Page

“In the past decades, we have been world leaders in hypersonic technology, but our consistent position was not to transfer them to the weapons sector and not to create weapons systems based on the technologies that we worked in the laboratory. But this was done by both Russia and China, and already many years ago. And this transition to practical application gave a good incentive to their work. And in this area we are now building up the pace, ”said White.

A similar thesis was made in January by General John Heiten, deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces. According to him, the intensity of work in the field of hypersound in Russia and China is higher than that of the United States.

“We must ensure that we advance in the same way, and even more rapidly than potential opponents in the person of China and Russia,” he said.

In addition, he subsequently reported that Washington spent many years researching the mistakes made under the HTV-1 and HTV-2 programs under the auspices of the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Office, which were eventually closed.

The championship of the Russian Federation in the development of advanced weapons was also announced by the Russian side. So, at the end of December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the situation in the new and recent history of the country is unique - it is precisely the Russian Federation that is “catching up”.

“Not a single country today has hypersonic weapons at all, and continental-range hypersonic weapons — all the more so,” the head of state said.

Vladimir Putin also noted that the "Dagger" and "Relight" complexes are already on alert, equipment with the "Vanguard" has begun. In addition, work on the Sarmat, Zircon and Petrel missiles is ongoing as planned, the president added.

Recall, in December, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Vladimir Putin on putting on alert “the first missile regiment armed with the latest strategic missile system with the Avangard hypersonic planning winged warhead. For the first time, the development of this complex became known from the message of the president to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018. Putin then said that this winged block was moving toward the target, like a “meteorite, a fireball”, and was carrying out deep maneuvering, allowing it to be invulnerable to any air defense and missile defense systems.

In addition, in November, the deputy head of the Russian defense ministry, Alexei Krivoruchko, reported that Project 1155 Marshal Shaposhnikov, a large anti-submarine ship and Project 949A Irkutsk multipurpose nuclear submarine, would receive 3M22 Zircon hypersonic missiles as a result of modernization. Prior to this, the President of Russia noted that the ammunition will become part of the arsenal of the corvette of the project 20385 “Thundering”. It is expected that this ship will be the first carrier of hypersonic missiles in the Navy.

“Catching up is unlikely to succeed”

According to analysts, despite the fact that the United States is now announcing the intensification of tests of hypersonic weapons, "they are unlikely to succeed in catching up with Russia in the near future."

“If hypersonic systems have already begun to enter service in Russia, then the United States is still at the testing stage, and a lot of time will pass before the completion of these developments,” Vladimir Vladimir, head of the Center for Political and Political Studies of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences said Batyuk.

According to him, even taking into account the fact that the development of hypersonic weapons in the United States was carried out for a long time, "the Americans failed to achieve special breakthroughs."

“While the Russian leadership relied specifically on the development of hypersonic weapons, which can break through even the most complex missile defense, and successfully coped with this task,” the expert noted.

  • Missile system "Vanguard"
  • © Shot: video of the Ministry of Defense of Russia

A similar point of view is shared by military expert Ivan Konovalov. As he said in an interview with RT, Washington "has an unbearable thought" that there is not a single country that could now "make Russia’s parity in the field of hypersonic weapons."

“Naturally, they will try to catch up with the Russian Federation, but they will not succeed, at least in the short and medium term. The US Department of Defense already has a program for developing hypersonic weapons, which has been given very serious funding, but the concept itself has not yet been selected.

The Pentagon will need a lot of time for this, and in the meantime, the Russian defense industry, unfortunately for Washington, is already developing and putting into operation new types of hypersonic weapons, ”Konovalov concluded.