By IANS,
Moscow : The US Army has conducted the first flight test of a new weapon-concept designed to fly within the earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speed and long range, the Pentagon said.
The Advance Hypersonic Weapon (AHW), “a first-of-its-kind glide vehicle”, was launched at 17:30 GMT Thursday from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.
It hit its designated target at the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll, about 2,300 miles away.
The objective of the test is to collect data on hypersonic boost-glide technologies and test range performance for long-range atmospheric flight.
“The mission emphasis is aerodynamics; navigation, guidance, control and thermal protection technologies,” the defence department said.
The AHW programme is managed and executed by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Army Forces Strategic Command programme office in Huntsville, Alabama.