The Pentagon announced successful tests on Wednesday of prototypes of hypersonic weapons components that will help guide the development of new weapons.
The tests took place on the same day that US President Joe Biden said he was concerned about Chinese hypersonic weapons.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the Sandia National Laboratory conducted the tests from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
He added that it would help guide the development of the Navy's "Conventional Rapid Strike" program and the Army's Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, a program aimed at developing supersonic offensive weapons.
conventional missile
The Navy and the Army will test-fire a conventional supersonic missile next fiscal year, which began on October 1.
Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper layers of the atmosphere at more than 5 times the speed of sound, or about 6,200 kilometers per hour.
The United States has been seeking to develop hypersonic weapons under the conventional rapid global strike program since the early years of the 21st century.
Companies such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies are working to develop hypersonic weapons capability for the United States.