In August 2021, the Chinese Army carried out the test of a new hypersonic missile with nuclear capacity that went around the world without being detected by the United States Intelligence Services, according to the ‘Financial Times’. But what is a hypersonic missile and how does it work?
Hypersonic missile: characteristics
Hypersonic technology travels at least five times faster than sound . When the temperature is 20 degrees and in atmosphere, the sound can reach 1,235 kilometers per hour.
Therefore, hypersonic speed can exceed 6,125 kilometers per hour. This means that if China launched a hypersonic missile from Beijing to the White House, it would arrive in just 1 hour and 47 minutes . Besides being extremely fast, it is also very difficult to detect as it can maneuver during flight.
The ballistic missile takes a high arc trajectory, while the hypersonic one travels low in the atmosphere , which is why it reaches its target in record time. According to a study carried out by researchers in 2014, the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden would have been completed in just one hour with this technology, while in 2011 it took six days.
The United States and Japan have developed new satellite systems to protect against such attacks , but the US Intelligence Service was unable to detect the Chinese hypersonic missile launched in August.
The spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States, Liu Pengyu , has assured that, unlike the United States, “China does not have a global strategy of a military nature and is not interested, in the least, in being part of a career. arms with other countries » .
Russia launches a hypersonic missile
For its part, Russia admitted in early October to launching one of its new hypersonic missiles, the Zircon, from a submarine in the Arctic . The missile can fly at nine times the speed of sound and its range is 1,000 kilometers. It is part of a new generation of “invulnerable” weaponry, which due to its combination of altitude, speed and maneuverability makes it very difficult to track and intercept.
