Hypersonic weapons: ‘It’s real, it’s coming, it’s a matter of time’

Alexander Zemlianichenko | Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as they attend the Navy Day parade in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 30, 2017. Picture taken July 30, 2017.

During a state-of-the-nation address in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Avangard was capable of reaching targets at a speed of 20 times the speed of sound and strikes “like a fireball.” He also said that the hypersonic warhead had already entered serial production.

The intelligence reports, which were compiled this spring, found that Russia successfully tested a hypersonic glide vehicle, which could carry a nuclear warhead, twice in 2016. The third known test was carried out in October 2017 and resulted in a failure when the platform crashed seconds before striking its target.

The Kremlin is expected to conduct a fourth test sometime this summer.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon and its largest weapons supplier have shared limited details about their own efforts on similar weapons.

After securing a $928 million U.S. Air Force contract to build an undefined number of hypersonic conventional strike weapons, a Lockheed Martin representative noted that the company will “not be able to host any interviews on this program” due to its sensitive nature.

Similarly, a U.S. Air Force spokesman said the service will not be making any announcements in the near future regarding its work on hypersonics.