The United States is "deeply concerned" about China's development of hypersonic technology, said US Secretary of Defense Robert Wood, following reports that Beijing had recently launched a nuclear-powered hypersonic missile.
"We are very concerned about China's progress over hypersonic nuclear capable missile," Robert Wood told reporters in Geneva.
The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Beijing had launched a powerful arrow in August that was circling the Earth in slow motion before losing a bit. Citing several sources, FT said the hypersonic arrow was held by a Long March rocket and that the test was kept wrapped.
“We just don't know how to protect ourselves from that kind of technology. So is China or Russia, ”Wood told reporters.
But Beijing said the report was inaccurate, and the exercise was a test of reusable technology that could reduce the cost of launching spacecraft.
"In my understanding, this test is a standard spacecraft test, used to test the technology of a recyclable boat," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a regular press conference. "This could provide an easy and cheap way for people to use space for peaceful purposes."(ads2)
Zhao's comments came just days after China launched a second three-person team to operate its own six-month power station. The FT report came at a critical juncture, as China-US relations continue to deteriorate, with some analysts saying the latest developments were reminiscent of the Cold War warfare in the western part of the 20th century.
The release of a confusing arrow report has confused some observers in Washington. An American official told FT: "We don't know how they did this." The FT report said Beijing's progress in the sector had "caught the American intelligence by surprise".
"The timing is not surprising at all," said Tong Zhao, chief executive officer of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing. “China is known to have been researching new delivery technologies for some time. But even if this reported launch was a weapons test, it could still be far from effective.
"If the FT report were true, it would mean that China is determined to do more with the exotic process to enter the US missile defense," he said, adding that the US "has had almost as much sophisticated technology, such as the X-37B spacecraft. ”.
Drew Thompson, a former director of China, Taiwan and Mongolia in the US Secretary of Defense, said the Department of Defense and the intelligence community had been monitoring and monitoring China's various "age" programs.
"Without the visibility of China's space program, it is difficult to make a credible denial," he said. “I think Biden's calculation [against China] has changed in the past. This reinforces the conclusions. ”(ads1)
Along with China, the US, Russia and at least five other countries are working on hypersonic technology.
Hypersonic arrows can fly more than five times the speed of sound and like ballistic missiles can bring nuclear war. But intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) fly high in the sky at the arc to reach their target while the hypersonic arrow flies in the lower orbit, which could reach the target very quickly.
In extreme cases, the hypersonic arrow can be controlled - making it difficult to track and protect.
Countries including the US have developed systems to protect navigating arrows and ships, but their ability to track and detect hypersonic arrow remains a question.
However, American nuclear experts have pointed out that ballistic missile defense (BMD) programs are intended as a shield against "superpowers" with small arms, and cannot act as a shield from the hail of missiles from Russia or China. Preventing Nuclear is a US strategy to combat nuclear power.
“This is not a game changer; The US BMD is not designed to fight existing Chinese missiles, ”said Laura Grego, a laboratory partner at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security and Policy Policy, Twitter said. “But it could be a fence aimed at the US that ultimately makes the bomb defense work for Chinese ICBMs. Due to the unlimited plans of US BMD programs and the strength that the US must be able to carry out an anti-weapons strike, the US BMD continues to harass China. ”
Vipin Narang, professor of nuclear security and political science at MIT, said: "One of the reasons why the US is using defense forces and arrows is to force opponents to invest more time and resources in making insane plans."
"This is a factor, not a distraction, of American strategy," added Narang.
China has been making significant advances in technology, according to a recent report by the US Congressional Research Service.
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