U.S. in hypersonic weapon 'arms race' with China -Air Force secretary
The United States and China are
engaged in an arms race to develop the most lethal hypersonic weapons, the U.S.
Air Force secretary said on Tuesday, as Beijing and Washington build and test
more and more of the high-speed next-generation arms.
"There is an arms race, not
necessarily for increased numbers, but for increased quality," Air Force
Secretary Frank Kendall told Reuters during an interview in his Pentagon
offices. "It's an arms race that has been going on for quite some time.
The Chinese have been at it very aggressively."
In October, the top U.S. military
officer, General Mark Milley, confirmed a Chinese hypersonic weapons test that
military experts say appears to show Beijing's pursuit of an Earth-orbiting
system designed to evade American missile defenses.
This year the Pentagon has held
several hypersonic weapons tests with mixed success. In October, the Navy
successfully tested a booster rocket motor that would be used to power a launch
vehicle carrying a hypersonic weapon aloft.
Hypersonic weapons travel in the
upper atmosphere at speeds of more than five times the speed of sound, or about
6,200 kilometers (3,853 miles) per hour.
Kendall noted that while the U.S.
military has focused funds on Iraq and Afghanistan, it has taken its eye off
the ball in terms of hypersonic weapons. "This isn't saying we've done
nothing, but we haven't done enough," he said.
As the Pentagon enters the 2023
annual budget cycle, Kendall hopes to raise funds with the retirement of older
and expensive-to-maintain systems in favor of new systems, including hypersonic
development programs.
"I love the A-10. The C-130 is
a great aircraft that's been very capable and very effective for a lot of
missions. The MQ-9s have been very effective for counterterrorism and so on.
They're still useful, but none of these things scare China," Kendall said,
referring to a more than 40-year-old combat aircraft, a plane for carrying
cargo, and widely used drones, respectively.
Defense contractors hope to
capitalize on the shift to hypersonic weapons not only by building them, but
also by developing new detection and defeat mechanisms.
Arms makers Lockheed Martin Corp
(LMT.N), Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N)
have all touted their hypersonic weapons programs to investors as world focus
shifted to the new arms race for an emerging class of weapon.
Still, the Pentagon wants defense
contractors to cut the ultimate cost of hypersonic weapons, the head of
research and development has said, as the next generation of super-fast
missiles being developed currently costs tens of millions per unit. Source: Reuters
Reporting by Mike Stone in
Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders and Leslie Adler