China’s defense ministry on Friday confirmed a fourth test of a new hypersonic strike vehicle was carried out last week.
“The scheduled scientific research and experiments in our territory [are] normal, and those tests are not targeted at any country and specific goals,” said the ministry in response to a report of the test published Thursday by the Free Beacon.
U.S. defense officials disclosed the latest test of what the Pentagon calls the Wu-14 hypersonic glide vehicle and said the most recent test, conducted June 7 in western China, involved extreme maneuvers by the high-speed strike weapon.
The advanced strategic strike weapon travels at speed of up to 10 times the speed of sound, or more than 7,600 miles per hour.
The Wu-14 test was carried out amid heightened tensions between the United States and China over Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
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U.S. intelligence has assessed the Wu-14 to be a nuclear delivery vehicle designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses, which currently are designed to counter ballistic missiles and warheads that have predictable trajectories.
Current U.S. missile defenses are not capable of countering maneuvering targets, such as the Wu-14. The U.S. government insists that its missile defenses are not designed to counter Chinese or Russian strategic missiles.
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