US Military Conducts Successful Hypersonic Weapon Experiments In Virginia

A joint US Army-Navy advanced weapons program successfully tested hypersonic weapon components using a sounding rocket from a coastal launch pad in Virginia on Wednesday, amid continued efforts to catch up with Russia and China. So far, the US has no hypersonic weapons deployed — and this is a huge national security threat as nuclear war drums get louder. 

Reuters said the sounding rocket (research rocket or a suborbital rocket) was launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, carrying eleven experiments designed to test and collect data for a future hypersonic weapons flight. Some of the tests included weapon communications, navigation equipment, and advanced materials to see if they could withstand the heat in a “realistic hypersonic environment,” according to a Navy statement.

“This test will be used to inform the development of the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) and the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) offensive hypersonic strike capability,” the Navy said, adding they’re “on track to support the first fielding of a hypersonic capability to the Army” in 2023.

According to Epoch Times, a second sounding rocket is scheduled for launch on Thursday and will have 13 experiments with classified hypersonic weapon components. 

In response to yesterday’s launch, Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, the director of Strategic Systems Programs who supervised the test, told CNN:

“The launch today went extremely well.

“As a matter of fact, we’ve just gotten done looking through our key observables, and every piece of data that we wanted to collect – at least preliminarily – has shown that we collected all that data.”

Over the years, the one big problem we’ve outlined is that the US is falling behind in the hypersonic weapons race. Russia has already used hypersonic missiles in its war in Ukraine, while China launched one around the world.

Not too long ago, Gregory Hayes, CEO of Raytheon Technologies Corp., said the US is “at least several years behind” China in developing hypersonic technology. 

Meanwhile, the threat of nuclear war is increasing by the day, and we’ve told readers the next major conflict will be won with hypersonic weapons, fifth-generation stealth fighters and bombers, and drones. The Pentagon better get its act together and field a hypersonic weapon, as a conflict between Russia and/or China seems almost inevitable.