Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 20 (Reporter Liu Pinran) The U.S. Department of Defense issued a statement on the 20th that the U.S. military successfully conducted a hypersonic glider flight test in Hawaii that day.
The statement said that at 4:30 a.m. EST on the 20th (16:30 a.m. Beijing time), the U.S. Navy and Army successfully tested a general-purpose hypersonic glider at the Pacific Missile Test Range on Kauai, Hawaii. After hitting a hypersonic flight, this glider hit the designated landing point.
The statement said that the test is a milestone for the US military to achieve hypersonic combat capabilities by the mid-1920s, and the test information will be used for hypersonic technology research and development. The US Navy and Army are working closely with defense companies to develop universal hypersonic gliders. In the future, both the Navy and the Army will be equipped with such equipment, and will launch launchers and weapon systems suitable for sea-based and land-based launches, respectively.
The US Missile Defense Agency also monitored the test and collected relevant data on the same day, saying that "this will provide information for defending opponents' hypersonic weapons."
Hypersonic weapons usually have a speed of 5 times the speed of sound and have high mobility. Many countries have developed or deployed such weapons. In March 2018, Russian President Putin disclosed to the outside world for the first time in his State of the Union address that Russia already has two new hypersonic weapons-the "Pioneer" and "Dagger" missiles. Not long after, Russia announced the development of a "zircon" hypersonic missile.