China has tested a hypersonic missile capable of launching another projectile.

China tested a hypersonic missile this summer capable of launching a projectile in turn, a technology neither the United States nor Russia currently possesses, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Confirming information published Sunday by the Financial Times, the American daily reported that China conducted a test in July involving a “sophisticated maneuver during which a projectile was fired from a hypersonic missile in mid-flight.”

This maneuver demonstrates that China’s capabilities are superior to what was previously known, the Wall Street Journal added, citing unidentified US officials.
According to the Financial Times, “experts at DARPA, the Pentagon’s research agency, do not know how China managed to fire a projectile from a flying vehicle at hypersonic speed,” that is, at more than five times the speed of sound.

They also don’t know the nature of the projectile that fell into the sea, according to the British newspaper, citing people with access to intelligence information. Some experts believe it was an air-to-air missile, while others saw it as a decoy intended to protect the hypersonic missile in the event of a conflict.

The Financial Times reported in October that Beijing had launched a hypersonic missile in August that circled the Earth in orbit before descending towards its target, which ultimately missed by a few kilometers.

Beijing denied that it was a missile test, claiming it was simply testing reusable space vehicle technology.

But the highest-ranking American officer, General Mark Milley, reported a few days later a “very significant test of a hypersonic weapons system,” without specifying the date. He compared it to the launch in October 1957 by the USSR of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, which surprised the United States and launched the space race. AFP

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