Beijing has delivered a “blow to the US’ mentality of strategic superiority,” according to a Global Times editorial, which neither confirmed nor denied claims that China tested a hypersonic missile, catching US spies by surprise.
The news of a hypersonic missile test was unveiled by the Financial Times in a bombshell report, citing five unnamed sources. The Chinese military allegedly conducted the launch back in August, in which a glide vehicle was deployed into low-earth orbit, where it circled the entire globe towards its target. And while the report emphasized that the missile purportedly missed its target by nearly two dozen miles, it nevertheless came as a big ‘surprise’ to the US intelligence community.
“We have no idea how they did this,” one source was cited as saying, while two others noted the test demonstrated that China had made “astounding progress” and was “far more advanced” in hypersonic weapons research than US officials thought.
