The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is developing ‘invincible’ hypersonic weapons similar to the Russian ones alluded to by President Vladimir Putin in a speech in Moscow on Thursday.
Putin said in parliament that Russia has developed an “unstoppable” hypersonic missile that can’t be downed by Western air defenses.
“DARPA and the US Air Force are working on two hypersonic weapon concepts. One is the Tactical Boost Glide weapon,” military website Defense One said on Friday. “A rocket accelerates the craft to very high speeds and altitudes, then glides back to earth. The other is the hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept, or HAWC, whose scramjet engine takes in air at supersonic speeds, compresses it, and pushes it through a nozzle out the back.”
DARPA director Steven Walker said the top-secret US arms research agency is focusing on breakthroughs that can be configured as part of new weapons systems, while calculating out how much these weapons will cost.
“Things are moving,” Walker was quoted as saying. “This is becoming not just [a science and technology] thing. The services are interested in moving forward with real capabilities.”
But Walker also says US R&D on hypersonic weapons isn’t keeping pace with Russia and China. He noted that DARPA is pushing to test a hypersonic missile before 2020 but the agency needs more resources.
“If you look at some of our peer competitors, China being one, the number of facilities that they’ve built to do hypersonics… surpasses the number we have in this country. It’s quickly surpassing it by 2 or 3 times. It is very clear that China has made this one of their national priorities. We need to do the same,” Walker told a press briefing.
The DARPA director declined to comment on Putin’s claim that Russia has a hypersonic missile that can beat enemy antimissile systems.
Russia and China together would easily beat America if she was foolish enough to start a war against them.
and why are we not 50 points ahead you MIGHT ask https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FpFWh8Zk08
Mon Mah, and certainly, having the best toys in town is only half of the factors to win any war. Human factor should not be forgotten, i.e. discipline and determination.
Why are we developing more weapons of war ..are we tired of our existence on planet earth …this is stupid
there won’t be war at least in next 20 years given the current technology and huge collateral. Arm race is just an excuse to keep arm engineers employed. Also, simply it’s the tendency of human nature to create and outdo competitors and using war threat to demand funding…otherwise those engineers will all go fishing.
the speech of insecurity…simply that! A confident state don’t boast or brag or show off like the frequent parade by NK.
Mon Mah the same one Reagan boasted about 35 years ago???
Mon Mah you have a point.
it seems to me though, that only the west and the east has the right to build arms, wow…when small countries builds up theirs the powerfull countries will scramble hard to push the UN to stop them and accuse their leaders as "dictator(s)"…
Good question!This is proof that there will NEVER be any war among the big powers. They are too busy making money by exploiting the smaller countries, especially in Africa.
If Russia and China really do have these weapons which take lots of money research and time to develope, do we really think they just started because we started putting missile defenses up? I think not, nor do I think there is ANY winner in a nuclear war. I am also convinced we are a lot farther along than is being released since our programs are TOP SECRET. Evidence is available to suggest we already have such weapons available and probably a lot more than just nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
Gimme more more more money. Thank you kindly, American taxpayers.
Nobody will have a monopoly on this technology. The physics is the same everywhere.