China Successfully Tests Hypersonic Weapon System

[WhiteTara]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-successfully-tests-hypersonic-weapon-153352608.html?nhp=1

China has conducted a test of its new hypersonic weapon. The test is the seventh successful test of the so-called DF-ZF, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

The test was carried out from the Wuzhai missile test center in central China. Past DF-ZF weapons-previously called WU-14 by the Pentagon-were aimed at inner Mongolia. The test was the second major missile test in two weeks. On April 12th, a DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile was launched into the South China Sea.

The DF-ZF is what is known as a Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGF). The DF-ZF is thought to be launched by a DF-21 intermediate range ballistic missile. Unlike a typical ballistic missile warhead however, a hypersonic glide vehicle stops short of entering space and glides through the atmosphere at speeds of between 4,000 and 7,000 miles an hour.

A weapon traveling at such blistering speeds could hit any place on Earth in less than an hour. The unique flight profile of HGVs-not quite a ballistic missile and not quite a regular air-launched missile-combined with its extremely high speed, makes them difficult to intercept.

The Washington Free Beacon emphasizes Chinese HGVs as a first strike weapon. While theoretically possible, China's strategic nuclear arsenal consists of between 200 to 300 weapons-nowhere near enough to destroy America's nuclear arsenal first even if HGVs were used to "kick in the door" and destroy America's ground-based missile interceptors based in Alaska.

[KamaAina]

1. "the Washington Free Beacon reports."

The Free Bacon is a libertarian cat box liner. Why is Yahoo! quoting it?

[WhiteTara]

2. I wondered

should have checked my sources a little better, but I thought the news was worthy of exposure.