After three failures, the US finally achieved the goal of testing the hypersonic missile. Now, the US has successfully tested its secret hypersonic missile. America conducted this successful test in mid-March but kept it a secret, given the ongoing tension with Russia over Ukraine. This hypersonic missile’s speed is five times more than the speed of sound.
The USA is a little late to the party Because Russia and China have already tested several hypersonic missiles; the missile was tested on the country’s west coast with the help of nuclear bomber B-52H.
This is the first time that the American hypersonic missile test has been successful. Until now, three tests have proved unsuccessful. During the trial, the cruise missile achieved a speed of more than Mach 5, which is the most prominent feature of the hypersonic missile.
The US conducted its first unsuccessful test In March 2021. The US Air Force tried to fire the missile from the 1950s B-52 Bomber carrying a newly developed ARRW missile designed to evade the missile defense system while flying more than five times the speed of sound. But the first test failed as the missile could not detach.
After that, the second test was conducted in July, of which news came out in August that the ARWW (Air Launcher Rapid Response Weapon) missile motor did not ignite. And similarly, the next test, the third test, also failed.
Lockheed Martin’s version of the hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept (HAWC) The missile was fired from a B-52 bomber that the US has been using for the last 50 years. It is also essential to know that a missile is hypersonic only when its velocity is more than Mach 5. Subsonic is when the speed is less than 1, transonic is equal to Mach 1, and supersonic is greater than 1. And hypersonic when the velocity is more than 5 Mach.
Earlier, the US Air Force had said that a rocket booster would increase the speed of this missile. After this, the speed of the cruise missile will be from Mach 5 to Mach 10. The rocket went to more than 65 thousand feet in this latest test and covered a path of more than 500 kilometers. It’s designed for ground attack. However, there is a preparation to make it for the Navy.
Why is the US testing a Hypersonic missile?
Following the Russian and Chinese tests in recent months, The US has resumed its focus on hypersonic weapons, compounding concerns in Washington that the US is lagging on missile hardware deemed essential for the future.
The US needed to do this test to counter the growing dominance of Russia and China in the missile race. In November of 2021, the Russian Navy fired a hypersonic missile Zircon test in the White Sea.
America, which has been badly behind in the race for hypersonic missiles, is now spending billions of rupees to compete with Russia and China. Not only this, but America has also signed an agreement with Australia and Britain.
Earlier, the US had postponed the test of its intercontinental missile for the second time, given the tension with Russia. The US feared that this might worsen relations with Russia or that it might mistakenly take it as a potential attack.
China has done a missile test at such a level that it has hit the target after circling the whole earth, so at such a time in whose hands the superpower tag is going to go, it is yet to be seen.
