"US Successfully Conducted Hypersonic Missile Test Last Month... Kept Confidential Due to Rising Tensions"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] It has been reported that the United States secretly conducted and successfully completed a hypersonic missile test launch in mid-last month. According to foreign media, U.S. authorities did not immediately disclose the success of the launch to avoid escalating tensions with Russia and remained silent for about two weeks.

On the 4th (local time), CNN cited a U.S. Department of Defense official familiar with the hypersonic missile development news, reporting, "We successfully conducted a hypersonic missile test launch in mid-March," adding, "However, since President Joe Biden was about to begin his European tour, we remained silent for two weeks to avoid escalating tensions with Russia."

According to the official, the hypersonic missile that succeeded in the test launch this time was the first test of the Lockheed Martin version of the system. The launcher, called the 'Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC),' was mounted on a B-52 bomber on the U.S. West Coast for the test launch. The HAWC is a missile launcher that flies at least five times faster than the speed of sound and is being developed by the U.S. Department of Defense for fighter jet deployment.

The official stated, "The HAWC flew over 300 miles (approximately 482 km) at an altitude of 65,000 feet (about 19,800 meters)," but CNN reported that few other details about the missile test launch were disclosed. The experiment is known to have been conducted shortly after Russia announced on the 18th of last month that it had launched the hypersonic missile 'Kinzhal (Kh-47M2)' for the first time in Ukraine, destroying Ukrainian military facilities.

Meanwhile, regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Department of Defense has recently been postponing or canceling missile test launches to minimize escalating tensions with Russia. Previously, the Department of Defense postponed the test launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 'LGM-30G Minuteman III' last month and canceled it again earlier this month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.