In an article a few hours ago in the Washington Post, Anton Troianovski
and Paul Sonne report on the announcement by Russia that it had
"conducted a final test of a nuclear-capable glider that flies at 20 times
the speed of sound".
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Washington Post
The new weapon, dubbed the Avangard, is of a type that the Pentagon has been both working on and worrying about as an arms race emerges among the United States, Russia and China for missiles that can maneuver easily and travel far faster than the speed of sound. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the test.
After being launched by a rocket, a vehicle carrying a potentially nuclear payload detaches and glides back to earth at hypersonic speeds.
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Such weapons are designed to attempt to circumvent the efficacy of
an anti-ballistic missile system.
In a video, the Washington Post interviews U.S. Secretary of the Air Force
Heather Wilson who discusses plans for a joint US Air Force/Army project
to fast-track the development of a hypersonic gliding missile weapon,
which potentially further ushers in a new nuclear weapons arms race.
Article and video here :-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.1dc93dfc07e5