The Pentagon forced to cancel the launch of its hypersonic missile, making the Russians smile
The US military canceled a planned test launch of a new hypersonic missile system at the last minute on the day it was supposed to take place, Wednesday.
It is not yet clear what happened to cause the test to be aborted, but the Department of Defense released this statement : “On September 6, the Department had planned to conduct a flight test at the Cape Canaveral Space Station, Florida , to inform the development of our hypersonic technology. Following pre-flight checks, the test was not carried out."
According to an analysis of the launch preparation published on Space.com : “Navigational advisories appeared earlier in the week announcing the closure of Atlantic Ocean airspace east of the Cape Canaveral space station, Florida, and that they suggested that the test launch would take place between September 6 and 8.”
The same publication stated that “no reason was given for the cancellation” by military or launch authorities.
However, the Pentagon has tried to underline some positive aspects, namely that valuable data was acquired from the pre-launch phase. He explained that, even without the flight test, “it was possible to successfully collect ground hardware and software performance data that will inform continued progress toward fielding offensive hypersonic weapons.”
Russia, which by all accounts has a much more advanced hypersonic weapons program, to the point of having already deployed them in Ukraine, has taken note. State news agency TASS published the following on Thursday:
…the decision (to halt) raises questions about the program's timetable and whether the U.S. military can meet its goal of declaring the weapon initially combat-capable by September 30.
Hypersonic speed is generally defined as a projectile that can reach Mach 5 or more. The Russian Kinzhal is said to travel at speeds of Mach 10 with an unpredictable flight path, making it nearly impossible to shoot down by even the most advanced missile defense shields. The advanced weaponry was first unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 and is launched into the air from Tu-22M3 bombers or MiG-31K interceptors.
In the recent past, President Putin has called his country's hypersonic missiles "invincible", while Russian media have simultaneously portrayed Washington's efforts as far behind. The latest interrupted test in Florida is seen by Moscow as further confirmation of this. China is also undoubtedly watching very closely.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new articles from Economic Scenarios.
The article The Pentagon forced to cancel the launch of its hypersonic missile, making the Russians smile comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-pentagono-costretto-a-cancellare-il-lancio-del-proprio-missile-ipersonico-facendo-sorridere-i-russi/ on Fri, 08 Sep 2023 07:00:19 +0000.