China tests hypersonic strike vehicle – how will the US respond?

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The US and China have been engaged in what some have dubbed a hypersonic arms race. This summer, the US tested its own hypersonic missile after China ran its second test of the Wu-14. Though both countries had successfully tested hypersonic weapons in the past, both August tests failed.

China has since conducted a third test flight of its new ultra-high speed strike vehicle. It is capable of traveling at up to eight times the speed of sound, in what experts suspect is part of the development of its strategic nuclear program. U.S. officials are concerned this system could outsmart its defenses.

Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade of Russia was recently quoted saying that the testing of the hypersonic vehicle proved China’s enhanced capability to overcome the missile defense system of the United States. The Russian news agency RIA-Novosti had revealed that the WU-14, launched by an intercontinental ballistic missile, separated from the missile in the upper atmosphere. It then glided and dived towards the earth at a speed that may be 10 times that of the velocity of sound, reaching around 12,800 km an hour. This speed is considered good enough to breach existing anti-missile defenses.

In what is seen as both a direct response and a general deterrent, the U.S. has spent well more than $100 billion on various missile defenses to perfect hit-to-kill technology and improve connectivity among disparate systems fielded for protection against airborne and ballistic missile threats.

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The US Army plans to field at least six THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) batteries; the $3.8 billion program was designed to field an area defense system capable of interceptors both inside the atmosphere and in the low regions of space.

According to Defense News, Lockheed Martin is hoping that the maturing threat of hypersonic re-entry vehicles from ambitious adversaries will spark interest in the company’s dormant plan to design a more powerful booster for the THAAD air defense system.

Development of offensive hypersonic systems is “one of the key reasons” that a THAAD-ER (Extended Range) missile should be considered for introduction into the Pentagon arsenal, says Mike Trotsky, vice president of air and missile defense for Lockheed Martin, which produces THAAD.

Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, MDAA, recently weighed in as well.  MDAA Director Vice Admiral James Syring briefed the public on the Missile Defense Agency’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request.
MDAA is requesting $8.127 billion for the development and deployment of U.S. missile defense systems FY 2016. Its highlights include $1.76 billion for U.S. Ground Based Midcourse (GMD) System; $559 million for Aegis BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense Systems); $500 million for TPY-2 Radar and Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR) sustainment and $464 for THAAD development and acquisition. MDAA’s total budget request represents 1.5% of the 532 billion DOD FY 2016 budget request, and is the highest MDAA budget request in three years.