TAIPEI, Feb 27 (PNA/Kyodo) — China is developing hypersonic weapons with an eye to piercing the missile defense shields of Japan and East Asian neighbours, according to a magazine specializing in Chinese military affairs.
The so-called “Rocket Force” of China’s People’s Liberation Army has recently devised a hypersonic weapons development program in light of Japanese and Taiwanese missile defense systems, as well as South Korea’s planned deployment of a U.S. missile shield, according to the Canada-based Kanwa Defense Review.
Hypersonic weapons are next-generation maneuvering strike vehicles launched atop ballistic missiles that travel at speeds of up to Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound. They maneuver and glide along the edge of space, making them very difficult for missile defenses to shoot down.
