The US And China Are In A Race To Develop Hypersonic Weapons

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http://www.businessinsider.com/valerie-insinna-the-us-and-china-hypersonic-weapons-race-2014-8


A rendering of the HTV-2 hypersonic aircraft, that is part of the Conventional Prompt Global Strike technology

On the heels of reports that China had successfully completed a second ultra-high-speed missile flight test, the Defense Department announced on Aug. 25 that it had aborted a test of its own hypersonic weapon.

The military is investigating the “anomaly” responsible for the test failure, but analysts told National Defense that the incident was not a major setback for the program.

"It's a glitch. These are weapons that operate under fantastic stresses,” said Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. “Failure is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if data can be gathered so that you learn from your mistake.”

“These weapons are traveling at such fantastic speeds and they are required to be capable of such accuracy that it is simply going to require an extensive development program to achieve a point where they can be considered ready for the field,” he added.



Read more: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1585#ixzz3Bfy5twAz