US
Army on Thursday conducted its first flight test of a new weapon capable of
traveling five times the speed of sound. The Army launched the Advanced
Hypersonic Weapon from the military's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai
at about 1:30 a.m. The weapon's "glide vehicle" reached Kwajalein
Atoll — some 2,300 miles away — in less than half an hour, said Lt. Col. Melinda
Morgan, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Earlier
this year, the Congressional Research Service said in a report the Advanced
Hypersonic Weapon is part of the military's program to develop "prompt
global strike" weapons that would allow the U.S. to strike targets
anywhere in the world with conventional weapons in as little as an hour. The
Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, are
developing a similar vehicle. The Pentagon said the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon,
or AHW, vehicle is designed to fly long ranges within the earth's atmosphere at
speeds that are at least five times the speed of sound. The objective of
Thursday's test was to collect data on technologies that boost the hypersonic
vehicle and allow it to glide. The Army was also testing how the vehicle
performed in long-range flight.
The
Congressional Research Service report said the AHW would be able to maneuver to
avoid flying over third party nations as it approached its target. The weapon
would use a precision guidance system to home in on the target, it said.
Source: AP, Honolulu
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