The United States is lagging in the 'hypersonic race' as Russia and China develop game-changing weapons including AI 'drone swarms' and autonomous rockets, The Telegraph writes.
U.S. aircraft carrier superiority would no longer matter as the ships would be sitting ducks for nuclear-armed hypersonic missiles swooping in from space.
Seven years ago China started testing its Dong Feng-17 Hypersonic Glide Vehicle - known to Pentagon officials as the WU-14 - from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre.
Hypersonic means travelling above Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. The DF-17 can do Mach 10 and carry a nuclear warhead. Last year, numerous DF-17s were proudly shown off in a military parade in Beijing.
In August 2018, China tested the hypersonic, nuclear-capable "Xingkong-2," or "Starry Sky-2," blasting it to space and showing off the launch on state television.
The People's Liberation Army believes hypersonic missiles like the DF-17 and Xingkong-2 will make obsolete US missile defence systems deployed in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the US risks becoming the third wheel in the hypersonic race as it also lags behind Russia.
Two weeks ago Russia successfully test-fired its hypersonic missile "Zircon" from a submerged nuclear submarine for the first time, using mock targets in the Barents Sea.
Zircon is capable of Mach 8 and could be fitted with a nuclear warhead to take out US aircraft carriers in minutes. The captain of a US carrier would have only seconds warning.
More advanced still is the Kremlin's pride and joy, the Avangard hypersonic missile, which has reached a staggering Mach 27.
