BackChina tests hypersonic missile in military expansion
August test could hold implications for nuclear or nonnuclear applications, US officials say
PremiumChina tested in August a hypersonic missile that orbited the globe before heading toward its target, adding a new capability to Beijing’s already sizable military buildup, U.S. officials said.
U.S. officials and weapons experts outside government have speculated the missile program might be intended as a way to evade U.S. missile defenses with a nuclear-armed system.
US missile defenses aren’t currently capable of thwarting a substantial Chinese nuclear attack, but Beijing might be concerned the US antimissile capabilities might be expanded in the future, the officials and experts said.
Some U.S. officials say, however, that the new missile might be intended as a nonnuclear system that could be used to attack U.S. ports or installations in the Pacific.
The system, if fully developed, would hardly be the most threatening weapon in China’s arsenal. China also has been building silos for ICBMs, which experts say would be cheaper and much more accurate.
China currently has a small nuclear arsenal of several hundred warheads, U.S. officials and weapons experts say. But U.S. officials have expressed concern that it may at least double over the next decade and that Beijing’s ultimate objective is to achieve parity with the U.S.’s much larger and capable triad of nuclear forces.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the test. A Chinese spokesman said that China had carried out a routine test of a space vehicle earlier in the summer. The August test was earlier reported by the Financial Times, which reported that the test had missed its target by more than 20 miles. U.S. officials confirmed that the missile had missed its target.
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