President Donald Trump has revealed that the U.S. is currently developing ‘many’ super-fast hypersonic missiles and boasted that the American weapons were ‘big, powerful, lethal and fast’.
Trump’s mention of the supersonic missiles was dropped briefly into his national address on Wednesday as he spoke of the escalating tensions with Iran just hours after Iranian forces fired missiles at military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq.
It is no secret that the U.S. has been working on developing hypersonic weapons, but Trump’s speech implied that multiple missiles were currently being built.
‘Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal, and fast,’ Trump said.
‘Under construction are many hypersonic missiles.
‘The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent.’
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the U.S. is currently developing ‘many’ super-fast hypersonic missiles and boasted that the American weapons were ‘big, powerful, lethal and fast’
The combination of speed, maneuverability and altitude of hypersonic missiles can make them difficult to track and intercept.
They travel at more than five times the speed of sound or about 3,853 miles per hour. Some will travel as fast as 15,000 miles per hour, according to U.S. and other Western weapons researchers, which is about 25 times as fast as modern passenger jets.
There are two primary categories of hypersonic weapons: Hypersonic glide vehicles that are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target and hypersonic cruise missiles that are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines after acquiring their target.
It is not clear what type of hypersonic weapon Trump was referring to in his remarks.
Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons don’t follow a ballistic trajectory and can maneuver en route to their destination.
The U.S., as well as China and Russia, have so far focused research and development on both categories of hypersonic weapons – both of which could carry conventional or nuclear payloads.
A hypersonic glide vehicle is boosted aloft on a rocket to heights of between 25 miles to 62 miles above the earth before detaching to glide along the upper atmosphere towards its target.
The U.S. has been developing hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in July last year
There are two primary categories of hypersonic weapons, including the hypersonic glide vehicles that are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target. Pictured above is an Avangard, which is a type of hypersonic glide
It is released at a height and speed that would allow it to glide unpowered to the target. Control surfaces on the glide vehicle mean it can steer an unpredictable course and maneuver sharply as it approaches impact.
Hypersonic cruise missiles, meanwhile, have internal engines. But unlike regular cruise missiles, they travel far faster and higher.
The U.S. has been developing hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in July last year.
The Pentagon has also previously said the U.S. has been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said back in August that he believes ‘it’s probably a matter of a couple of years’ before the U.S. has one.
At the time, he called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.
The Pentagon’s budget request for all hypersonic-related research throughout 2020 was a whopping $2.6 billion, according to the research report.
The U.S. Air Force awarded aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin Corporation two contracts worth $1 billion in 2018 to develop the hypersonic missiles.
Russia created this computer simulation of an Avangard hypersonic missile with a gliding hypersonic warhead being released from booster rocket
China released footage on Wednesday of its nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile DF-26 being launched during a military exercise. Beijing did not reveal the time or location of the exercise
Work on the ultra-fast missiles was expected to largely take place in Huntsville, Alabama; Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; and Orlando, Florida.
Additional expertise in Denver, Colorado and Sunnyvale, California was also expected to be involved in the project, according to Lockheed.
The U.S. push for testing and deployment of hypersonics comes after years of stop-start development of the missiles and a need to now catch up with China and Russia.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in December that it had deployed its first regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles – a move that President Vladimir Putin boasted put his country in a class of its own.
The new system, called Avangard, comprises a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, one of several new types of weapons Putin has touted as ahead of their time.
Meanwhile, senior U.S. officials said early last year that China was leading the U.S. in the race to deploy the hypersonic missiles
China released footage on Wednesday of its nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile DF-26 being launched during a military exercise.
Beijing did not reveal the time or location of the exercise, but footage of the launch was recently released by the country’s state broadcaster China Central Television Station.