Space Force General: US “Not As Advanced” As China Or Russia With Hypersonic Missiles

A top ranking general within the recently established US Space Force has voiced dire public concern that America’s hypersonic missile capabilities are significantly behind those of Russia and China, coming days after Russia successfully test-fired another Tsirkon Hypersonic missile from a warship in the Arctic, and months after China caught US intelligence off guard by its own impressive hypersonic test.

General David Thompson, the Space Force’s Vice Chief of Space Operations, which is number two post over the command, said in a Saturday interview that the US is simply “not as advanced” in this are compared to China or Russia. He described this lagging behind in this crucial cutting-edge weaponry as implicitly presenting a threat to national security.

“We have catching up to do very quickly, the Chinese have an incredible hypersonic program,” he said. “It’s a very concerning development … it greatly complicates the strategic warning problem.”

As The Hill writes of his words, they are consistent with a recently Congressional Research Service report which highlighted the two US rivals’ ability to launch hypersonics that are nuclear-capable:

The U.S. failed its own hypersonic missile tests in October, according to CNN.

According to a memo the Congressional Research Service (CRS) provided for U.S. Congress on Oct. 19, the U.S. is lagging behind China and Russia because “most U.S. hypersonic weapons, in contrast to those in Russia and China, are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead.”

That report concluded that “As a result, U.S. hypersonic weapons will likely require greater accuracy and will be more technically challenging to develop than nuclear-armed Chinese and Russian systems,” the CRS wrote.- READ MORE