The United States Department of Defense, despite a series of unsuccessful tests of the only currently available sample of the X-51 Waverider hypersonic missile, which was launched from an airborne carrier, for example, from the F-15 Strike Eagle fighter or any strategic bomber, hypersonic missiles with the possibility of its launch from warships.
According to the press service of the US Navy, a new hypersonic weapon is designed to accommodate conventional non-nuclear warheads.
The US military noted that supposedly in the area of the Hawaiian Islands have already passed successful tests of the prototype. However, many experts in the field of hypersound and rocket weapons rather skeptically reacted to the message of the US military.
In their assessments, experts rely on the results of previous test hypersonic flights of the X-51A Waverider rocket. In 2013, it accelerated to 5.1 M numbers, reaching only the lower limit of the hypersound. For the entire flight time of less than 6 minutes, the test sample traveled a little over 400 kilometers. After that, a command for self-destruction was issued from the launch control point, since control over the missile flight was lost. The plan of that test flight provided for a speed of about 7 numbers M.
Hypersonic missiles developed for the US Navy are planned to be used from either the Ohio-class strategic submarines or the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
There is practically no information on the tactical and technical characteristics of the hypersonic rocket being created, except for its ability to reach any target on the planet within one hour.
