The Third Wu-14 Test

choi

Bill Gertz, China Conducts Third Flight Test of Hypersonic Strike VehicleMissile-launched Wu-14 glide vehicle designed for nuclear strike against US through missile defenses. Washington Free Beacon, Dec 4, 2014.
freebeacon.com/national-security/china-conducts-third-flight-test-of-hypersonic-strike-vehicle/

Quote:

"China conducted the third flight test of a new hypersonic missile * * * The flight test of the developmental Wu-14 hypersonic glide vehicle was monitored by US intelligence agencies Tuesday [Dec 2, 2014] during a flight test in western China. The latest flight test followed earlier tests of the Wu-14 on Jan 9 and Aug 7[, this year]. * * * A Pentagon spokesman confirmed the test but declined to provide details.

"The Wu-14 was launched atop a Chinese ballistic missile and released along the edge of space.

"Rick Fisher, a China military affairs analyst, said more tests are needed for China to turn the Wu-14 into a working weapon. * * * Russia’s government announced last month that Moscow plans to field hypersonic missiles by 2020. By contrast, US development of a hypersonic weapons program has been limited. The Aug 25 test of the Army’s Advanced Hypersonic Weapon ended in disaster after the booster launching the weapon blew up shortly after launch from a test base on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

"The Pentagon should fund several types of hypersonic systems in a development competition, Fisher said, as well as further research in counter-hypersonic arms. Past Pentagon research has included development of both guided-but-unpowered glide vehicles, and high-technology scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicles. A space plane called the X-37 also is being developed as part of a program known as conventional Prompt Global Strike. [Besides Army's project and X-37, there is no other project going on.]

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of the report, which does not say whether the test was successful. (My view: Of course not. Because no country has succeeded except the November 2011 test, of the same US Army project.
(b) Aaron Mehta, US Army's Hypersonic Missile Fails During Test. Defense News, Aug 25, 2014. www.defensenews.com/article/2014 ... e-Fails-During-Test