The US successfully tested a hypersonic missile amid concerns that the US lags behind Russia and China | US News

The US says its air force has successfully tested a hypersonic missile as the US tries to keep up with China and Russia.

Hypersonic rockets are designed to fly at a penetrating speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound or about 3,850mph) in the atmosphere.

Sources say the US military tested a Lockheed Martin hypersonic missile, known as a Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) booster missile, off the coast of California this week.

It came a few months after Russia claims to have launched its newest hypersonic missile on Ukraine for the first time.

The ARRW was carried overhead under the wing before it was launched towards the target.

In previous US tests, the weapon did not separate from the aircraft.

American efforts to develop hypersonic weapons have been hampered by failed tests and growing questions about costs.

There are growing concerns that the US is lagging behind Russia and China in the superpower arms race.

In a separate and also successful test of a hypersonic weapon, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) demonstrated its Combat Firepower program, according to two people familiar with the matter. this topic.

Operational Fires is a ground-launched system that will “quickly and accurately strike time-sensitive, critical targets while penetrating modern enemy air defenses”.

One of Lockheed Martin’s concepts for DARPA weapons is to use High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, like those sent to Ukraine, to fire the weapon.

These successful tests followed a failed test flight on June 29 of another hypersonic weapon, the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.