US Concerned On China Testing Hypersonic Missile. India Among Countries Developing Tech: Congressional Report

Hypersonic missiles fly at speeds of at least Mach 5, which is five times the speed of sound.

New Delhi: President Joe Biden has confirmed that the US is concerned about the Chinese hypersonic missiles, days after a media report claimed that China recently tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that caught America’s intelligence by surprise.

Asked if the US is concerned about the latest hypersonic missile tests by China at the White House on Thursday, Biden told reporters, Yes, news agency PTI reported.

This comes as The Financial Times had this week reported that China has tested hypersonic missiles. 

China denied it, contending that it tested a hypersonic vehicle and not a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile as reported by the leading British newspaper which had also reported that the missile missed its target by about two-dozen miles.

According to the report, China tested the nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise.

As per the National Public Radio, the new weapon can be significant as it can potentially attack the US from an unexpected direction, such as the South Pole.

The United States’ missile defences and early-warning radars are pointed towards the North Pole, the standard route for intercontinental ballistic missiles, so the country would be vulnerable to a strike from the opposite direction, it said, as reported by PTI.

The US also has been developing hypersonic missiles. 

Meanwhile, the US Navy on Thursday informed that a day earlier, it successfully carried out a test demonstrating advanced hypersonic technologies, capabilities and prototype systems in a realistic operating environment.

Hypersonic weapons, capable of flying at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5), are highly maneuverable and operate at varying altitudes, the Department of Defence stated.

The Pentagon’s budget request for hypersonic research is USD 3.8 billion this year.

In recent months, US military officials have warned about China’s growing nuclear capabilities, particularly after the release of satellite imagery that showed it was building more than 200 intercontinental missile silos.

India among select countries developing hypersonic missiles: US Congressional report

According to an independent Congressional report, India is among the select few countries which are developing hypersonic weapons.

The independent Congressional Research Service (CRS), in its latest report this week, stated that although the US, Russia and China possess the most advanced hypersonic weapons programmes, a number of other countries, including Australia, India, France, Germany and Japan, are also developing hypersonic weapons technology.

As per the report, Australia has collaborated with the US and India has collaborated with Russia for this purpose.

India has collaborated with Russia on the development of BrahMos II, a Mach 7 hypersonic cruise missile, the CRS report stated, as reported by PTI.

Reportedly, India is also developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle programme and successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020, the CRS stated.

India operates approximately 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and is capable of testing speeds of up to Mach 13, the Congressional report, prepared by independent subject area experts for members of the US Congress, stated.

(With Agency Inputs)