General Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the first Pentagon official to confirm on the record the nature of a test this year by the Chinese military that the Financial Times had reported was a hypersonic weapon.
The article stated the nuclear-capable weapon was launched into space and orbited the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding toward its target in China. Military experts say this is a Cold War concept known as a 'fractional orbital bombardment system' (FOBS).
Milley said he could not discuss details because aspects involved classified intelligence.
But he said the US is also working on hypersonic weapons. Its key features include flight trajectory, speed and manoeuvrability that make them capable of evading early warning systems that are part of US missile defences.
The US has not conducted a hypersonic weapon test of the sort Milley said China had achieved.
“What we saw was a very significant event of...