Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: U.S. Officials Sound Alarm On Stunning Chinese Hypersonic Missile Test: ‘No Idea How They Did This’

  1. #1
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    5280' Above Sea Level
    Posts
    256,044
    vCash
    10966
    Mentioned
    20 Post(s)
    Thanks
    23,810
    Thanked 113,085 Times in 59,902 Posts

    Fail U.S. Officials Sound Alarm On Stunning Chinese Hypersonic Missile Test: ‘No Idea How They Did This’

    By Ryan Saavedra - The Daily Wire




    Communist China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile late this summer that circled the planet before taking aim at its target; a test that has stunned the Biden administration.

    “Five people familiar with the test said the Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle which flew through low-orbit space before cruising down towards its target,” Financial Times reported. “The missile missed its target by about two-dozen miles, according to three people briefed on the intelligence. But two said the test showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realized.”

    “We have no idea how they did this,” one of the five people told FT.

    “The US, Russia and China are all developing hypersonic weapons, including glide vehicles that are launched into space on a rocket but orbit the earth under their own momentum,” the report added. “They fly at five times the speed of sound, slower than a ballistic missile. But they do not follow the fixed parabolic trajectory of a ballistic missile and are maneuverable, making them harder to track.”

    Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe warned earlier this year that the Biden administration was in for a shock once they were finally brought up to speed on the advancements that the Chinese military has made in recent years.

    Ratcliffe said that “China has closed the gap” in certain areas which he could not reveal because “it poses a national security threat to acknowledge that, but there are places where China’s frankly doing a better job, and it’s further down the curve on some technology issues than we are, and that’s never been the case before.”

    The Pentagon is currently trying to find ways to drive down the cost of hypersonic missiles, which are far superior to cruise missiles, but also more expensive.

    Reuters reported in July:

    Russia said on Monday it had successfully tested a Tsirkon(Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile, a weapon President Vladimir Putin has touted as part of a new generation of missile systems without equal in the world.

    The defence ministry said in a statement that the missile had been fired from the Admiral Gorshkov, a warship located in the White Sea, and travelled at around seven times the speed of sound before hitting a ground target on the coastline of the Barents Sea more than 350 km (217 miles) away.

    The Chinese military unveiled hypersonic weapons back in 2019.

    “We’re no longer in a period of overwhelming American dominance but rather one in which our armed forces are adapting to fight against near-peer competitors who are fielding increasingly sophisticated capabilities,” said Randall G. Schriver, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs. “Instead of expecting to dominate an opponent, our armed forces are learning to expect to be contested throughout a fight while achieving the political objectives set for them.”

    The Wall Street Journal highlighted one of the weapons that was revealed that has defense experts concerned:

    The Dongfeng-17, or DF-17, is thought to be China’s first operational missile mounted with a hypersonic glide vehicle — capable of flying at more than five times the speed of sound — and the first such weapon deployed anywhere in the world, defense experts said. Once launched, the missile is designed to release a hypersonic glide vehicle that can cruise at relatively low altitude and speeds above Mach 5, or about 3,400 miles an hour, changing direction if needed. That allows it to evade current missile defense systems.

  2. #2
    Shelter Dweller lost in melb.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Down Under
    Posts
    23,762
    vCash
    7596
    Mentioned
    18 Post(s)
    Thanks
    18,671
    Thanked 7,553 Times in 5,206 Posts
    Looks like a Turkey's path tbh. How do you hit a 'conventional' multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) ballistic missile?

    USA could Trident entire China in 5 minutes if it wanted to...

  3. #3
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    5280' Above Sea Level
    Posts
    256,044
    vCash
    10966
    Mentioned
    20 Post(s)
    Thanks
    23,810
    Thanked 113,085 Times in 59,902 Posts
    You would like to think that even with as bad as the Chinese government is, that they realize that a nuclear confrontation is a no win situation. But who knows really, especially with the current US administration backing down with its tail between its legs on every front.

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to Teh One Who Knocks For This Useful Post:

    Griffin (10-18-2021)

  5. #4
    Shelter Dweller lost in melb.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Down Under
    Posts
    23,762
    vCash
    7596
    Mentioned
    18 Post(s)
    Thanks
    18,671
    Thanked 7,553 Times in 5,206 Posts
    Biden's getting strong on the border

  6. #5
    Basement Dweller Godfather's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vancouver
    Posts
    16,820
    vCash
    13129
    Mentioned
    28 Post(s)
    Thanks
    4,305
    Thanked 6,770 Times in 4,009 Posts
    I'm genuinely confused why this is shocking US intelligence, or if the headline is a bit of puff? A ballistic missiles from the 80's goes hypersonic, Tesla's Falcon 9 goes hypersonic and then lands on a platform in the ocean.

    Either way given MAD, I'm more concerned about cyber-security and issues surrounding our supply chain (microchips being a big one) than nukes when it comes to the cold war with China.

  7. #6
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    5280' Above Sea Level
    Posts
    256,044
    vCash
    10966
    Mentioned
    20 Post(s)
    Thanks
    23,810
    Thanked 113,085 Times in 59,902 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Godfather View Post
    I'm genuinely confused why this is shocking US intelligence, or if the headline is a bit of puff? A ballistic missiles from the 80's goes hypersonic, Tesla's Falcon 9 goes hypersonic and then lands on a platform in the ocean.

    Either way given MAD, I'm more concerned about cyber-security and issues surrounding our supply chain (microchips being a big one) than nukes when it comes to the cold war with China.
    I think the biggest issue facing the United States is that if the Chinese can deploy a hypersonic ICBM type nuclear system, it effectively negates our ballistic missile defense system. If the Chinese were to ever launch an attack with traditional ICBM's they would most likely travel over the northern pole and the largest portion of out anti-ballistic missile defenses are based in Alaska. Now, with a hypersonic missile, they could take any route around the globe and by the time we knew what was happening, there would be no way to launch any kind of countermeasures against the missiles.

  8. #7
    Shelter Dweller lost in melb.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Down Under
    Posts
    23,762
    vCash
    7596
    Mentioned
    18 Post(s)
    Thanks
    18,671
    Thanked 7,553 Times in 5,206 Posts
    China says recent test was spacecraft not missile

    https://www.news.com.au/technology/i...f8c1724e3f?amp

  9. #8
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    5280' Above Sea Level
    Posts
    256,044
    vCash
    10966
    Mentioned
    20 Post(s)
    Thanks
    23,810
    Thanked 113,085 Times in 59,902 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by lost in melb. View Post
    China says recent test was spacecraft not missile

    https://www.news.com.au/technology/i...f8c1724e3f?amp

  10. #9
    Shelter Dweller lost in melb.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Down Under
    Posts
    23,762
    vCash
    7596
    Mentioned
    18 Post(s)
    Thanks
    18,671
    Thanked 7,553 Times in 5,206 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks View Post

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •