The great powers in the hypersonic missile race

INVESTIGATION – Russians, Chinese and Americans seek to acquire projectiles capable of flying at five times the speed of sound.

Chinese DF-17 hypersonic missiles are said to be able to sink an aircraft carrier. Here in Tiananmen Square in Beijing during a military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on October 1. THOMAS PETER/REUTERS

Russian and American announcements are responding at a breakneck pace. On July 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in St. Petersburg that the Russian Navy would soon be equipped with hypersonic nuclear weapons. “The wide deployment of advanced technologies, unmatched in the world, including hypersonic strike systems and underwater drones, will give the fleet a unique advantage and enhanced capabilities”, he said. Moscow is already proud to have, with the intercontinental hypersonic missile Avangard, the ultimate weapon, capable of reaching any point on the globe at Mach 27, or 33,000 km / h.

Almost at the same time, US Under Secretary of Defense Ellen Lord promised that the United States would continue to develop “Accelerated” hypersonic weapons “As well as defense options against the hypersonic ballistic capabilities of their adversaries” in order to continue to “To dominate the battlefields

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