Congressman Warns Of Threat Chinese Hypersonic Weapons Pose To US

Hypersonic missiles, especially those built by China, are an emerging threat to the United States and Washington must set funds to research and develop such weapon systems, US Congressman Doug Lamborn said on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2023) Hypersonic missiles, especially those built by China, are an emerging threat to the United States and Washington must set funds to research and develop such weapon systems, US Congressman Doug Lamborn said on Friday.

"There are things on the horizon though that we need to be really giving attention to, funding research and development and making progress on... the hypersonic threat, especially China," Lamborn said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Lamborn said Russia talks a lot about hypersonic weapons and perhaps has some "primitive capabilities," but China remains the "pacing threat" with respect to hypersonics.

The congressman warned that China is aiming to build hundreds or thousands hypersonic weapons.

Lamborn noted that President Joe Biden announced on March 3 that he would initiate an industrial system that allowed for the efficient production of hypersonic weapons, but the United States has not progressed to the level of China or even Russia.

"We do not have a viable offensive capability with hypersonics," Lamborn said.

No country has defense capabilities against hypersonic weapons, which is another reason to fund research and development in this kind of weapon systems, he added.