China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circled the Earth before speeding toward its target.
A Financial Times report stated that a Long March rocket was launched in Beijing in August when the missile circled the globe at low orbit before descending toward its target, and missing it by over 20 miles (32 kilometers).
Sources said that the test was confidential and so the news "caught US intelligence by surprise."
Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic missiles, can deliver nuclear weapons and fly at more than five times the speed of sound. Hypersonic missiles can be controlled after launch, making it easier to evade defense systems.
Presently, the United States, Russia and five other countries are working on hypersonic technology. Russia tested one such missile in July.
China, followed closely by Russia, is regarded as having the most potent hypersonic missile arsenal.
Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told the Financial Times that the United States is concerned about the "military capabilities that China continues to pursue" that is "increasing tensions in the region and beyond. That is one reason why we hold China as our number one pacing challenge.”
Beijing’s mouthpiece Global Times said on Sunday that the news had delivered a fresh blow to the United States’ “strategic superiority”, warning that its “military build-up” will continue around Taiwan and the South China Sea, and that it is “inevitable” China will take the “upper hand” in any conflict.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in London, said the country’s military policy was “defensive in nature” and that China is "not at all interested in having an arms race with other countries.”
(With inputs from Financial Times, Global Times)
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