AMERICA has taken a major stride ahead of China in the tense arms race to develop the most lethal hypersonic weapons.
Analysts are very excited by a new “Blackbeard” missile which can slice through the atmosphere at around 4,000mph, after a new deal was signed with the US Army.
Defence expert Hamish de-Bretton Gordon told The Sun: “The Americans are really upbeat about it – and you can see why.
“The Chinese and some of the others are looking at it with open mouths.”
Hypersonic missiles by definition travel at more than five times the speed of sound – roughly 3,800mph.
They are designed to evade traditional air defences by sailing through the upper atmosphere.
HORROR STUNT
Parents accused of ‘tattooing’ screaming baby for TikTok contest break silence
DYING IN DROVES
Kim Jong-un builds ‘sacred sanctuary’ for Ukraine war dead
These weapons already exist, and Russia claims to have used them in combat.
But there’s a catch – the technology behind them is very expensive.
A firm called Castelion – founded by a bunch of former SpaceX execs – has come up with a much cheaper model that can be produced en masse.
They announced today they had won contracts with the US armythe first step to the virtually unstoppable Blackbeards being stationed around the world.
The Army has now requested $25million to support work on the Blackbeard Ground Launch.
Bryon Hargis, Castelion’s founder and CEO, said: “If we can build this better, faster, cheaper, both sides should be rewarded for that.”
De Bretton-Gordon told us: “The munitions that we’ve seen in the Ukraine war – like British Storm Shadows and others – are incredibly expensive. Also, there aren’t many of them.
“From what we know about the Blackbeard missile, it seems to be the real answer to a lot of issues that we’ve currently got.
“We’re expecting it to come into service very quickly, in the next two or three years, which is phenomenal.”
Explaining why hypersonic speed is so valuable, de-Bretton Gordon said: “It’s very difficult to intercept them and knock them down with current air defences, so that’s a big plus.”
These machines can travel a serious distance as well – over 650 miles, according to de-Bretton Gordon.
“I’m always cautious talking about a game changer, but this certainly seems to be the answer to the battlefield over the next few years,” de-Bretton Gordon said.
As of January, Castelion had raised more than $100million in funding from private investors and secured tens of millions more in US military contracts, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Talking up the new missiles, notes in the Army’s budget said the mission of Blackbeard missiles is “to attack/neutralize/suppress/destroy… time sensitive moving targets and hardened targets”.
It said the new missiles would deliver “at a much-reduced cost per missile than currently exists in the Army inventory”.
The US and China have been locked in the race to produce affordable hypersonic missiles on an industrial scale.
China’s hypersonic missile suite would reportedly be capable of destroying up to ten US aircraft carriers within the first 20 minutes of a conflict in the South China Sea.
But the US will be feeling considerably more confident after awarding the Castelion contracts.
De-Bretton Gordon said: “The US will want the Chinese to believe that they’re way, way ahead of them. But likewise, we sort of know what the Chinese are developing in this area.
“We’ve seen quite a lot of the Russian hypersonic missiles, which have really failed to do very much at all.
JAB HACK
I’ve lost 6st in six months on Mounjaro & ‘cured’ the horrible side effect
CASH BOOST
Clever tools to help you find lost cash in time for Xmas – you could get £3,141
“Despite the propaganda coming out of Russiavirtually all Russia’s hypersonic missiles have been shut down by Patriot Air Defense, US Air Defense.
“So, on the face of it, it would appear that the Americans are now one step ahead.”