Report: China's new hypersonic missile can target India, Japan, US
China's new hypersonic ballistic missile can reportedly hit military targets in the US, India and Japan. The missile can thereby "challenge their defences," stated a media report. According to reports, Beijing had twice successfully tested the new Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) dubbed Dong Feng-17 in November 2017. US intelligence sources speculate that the missile could be operational by 2020. Here's more about it.
What do we know about HGVs?
HGVs are unmanned, rocket-launched manoeuvrable aircraft which travel through the earth's atmosphere. The system can reportedly be used with different kinds of ballistic missiles of short to inter-continental range.
How does the HGV threaten India, US, Japan?
Missiles equipped with the HGV technology can reportedly target nuclear reactors and military-bases in the US, Japan and India. Moreover, HGVs travel faster at lower altitudes and hard to detect trajectories. This implies that anti-ballistic missile systems are left with little time to intercept the missile before it drops the payload. In effect, it may successfully evade Indian, American and Japanese anti-ballistic missile systems.
HGVs may even render THAAD ineffective!
Antony Wong Dong, a Macau-based military observer remarks that HGVs could be used to target and destroy Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the US-installed anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea. "Once the THAAD radars fail to function in the first stage, it could reduce the window to raise the alarm about the PLA's (ICBMs) ... leaving US without enough time to intercept," he stated.
