US developing satellites to track Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapons
- US Defence Department announces two contracts for satellites that better detect hypersonic missiles
- The US wants to expand and enhance its ability to counter potential threats from Russia and China
The United States will spend US$1.3 billion to develop advanced satellites that will be able to better track hypersonic missile threats, the Pentagon said, announcing two new contracts that will put the detection and tracking systems in orbit by 2025.
Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency, said the contracts will provide 28 satellites, as the US moves to greatly expand and enhance its ability to counter increasing threats from Russia and China.
Both countries have been making strides in their development of hypersonic missiles, which are more difficult to track and shoot down because they manoeuvre more in flight than conventional weapons that travel in predictable paths.
Last year China tested what US officials said was a hypersonic missile, and Russia has used the weapons in strikes during the war in Ukraine.
“Russia and China have been developing and testing hypersonic glide vehicles – these advanced missiles that are extremely manoeuvrable,” Tournear told Pentagon reporters on Monday. “These satellites are specifically designed to go after that next generation version of threats out there so that we can detect and track these hypersonic manoeuvring vehicles and predict their impact point.”
Additional funding for the programme was provided by Congress specifically in response to concerns in the Indo-Pacific region, in response to China’s rapidly progressing military development.