Pentagon going hypersonic with long-range rapid attack weapon

Pentagon is going hypersonic with an experimental scramjet-powered, ultrahigh speed strike vehicle.

The hypersonic is the Pentagon's main choice for a new long-range, rapid attack weapon, a senior official said.

According to the Washington Times, Alan R. Shaffer, principal deputy assistant defense secretary for research and engineering, told a defense industry conference that prototypes and recent tests proved concepts for hypersonic arms.

He said that hypersonic vehicles can deliver nuclear or conventional payloads in accurate strikes against increasingly hard-to-penetrate air defenses of some countries, the report said.

The comments come two and a half months after China tested a new hypersonic glide vehicle, dubbed the Wu-14.

That ultrahigh speed maneuvering vehicle test represents a major challenge for current U.S. missile defenses, which are designed to counter non-maneuvering ballistic missile threats, the report added.