China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in a move that caught U.S. intelligence by surprise, according to a new report.
The missile launched in August and circled the globe before speeding towards its target, which it missed by about two-dozen miles according to three individuals briefed on the intelligence. Two of those individuals said the test showed how far China has progressed on hypersonic weaponry – farther that U.S. officials realized.
“We have now idea how they did this,” one individual told The Financial Times.
Taylor Fravel, an expert on Chinese nuclear weapons and professor at MIT, said it would be “destabilizing” if China fully developed and deployed such a weapon.
“Hypersonic glide vehicles…fly at lower trajectories and can maneuver in flight, which makes them hard to track and destroy,” Fravel said.
U.S. military officials in recent months have warned about China’s growing nuclear capabilities, particularly after the release of satellite imagery that showed it was building over 100 intercontinental missile silos. Two sources familiar with the recent test noted that the weapon could, in theory, fly via the South Pole instead of the more heavily monitored North Pole route.
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