The United States Air Force failed to test a rocket booster on a prototype hypersonic missile AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) for the third time. The missile could not leave the launcher under the wing of a B-52H bomber. The rocket will be returned to the manufacturer for telemetry and airborne data analysis. The previous test of the AGM-183A was in July and April, and it also ended in a fiasco. Such failures will occur more and more often, claims an article in the Chinese Tencent portal.
As per the article, the lack of Chinese scientists in the United States is why the American military is unable to catch up with Russia in creating hypersonic weapons.
According to Tencent analysts, the trend so unpleasant for the Pentagon is associated with the exodus of Chinese engineers and scientists who played an important role in creating modern American technology.
“The development of American hypersonic missiles is not going smoothly at all. One of the main reasons is the acute shortage of engineers in this discipline. Many Chinese companies have returned to their homeland, which has a relatively large impact on the US military industry,” the report claims.
According to the authors, initially, the US military did not consider the project to create hypersonic missiles so difficult, but the current situation shows that the United States overestimated its capabilities and underestimated the role of Chinese specialists.
“In the past, the Chinese have accounted for a significant portion of various projects in the United States. Chinese engineers have played a key role in many projects, but attitudes towards the Chinese have changed since the Trump presidency. It has become hostile. For security reasons, a significant part of Chinese specialists chose to leave and live in other countries. Some Chinese engineers even chose to return home. Lack of talent in the United States is a key reason for the failure or slow progress of many of her projects,” experts said in the publication.
At the same time, the United States is more and more lagging behind Russia and China in creating hypersonic weapons. Today the American military is unable to launch a hypersonic missile from an aircraft. At the same time, in 2018, the Russian Federation successfully tested the Dagger missile, which was launched by the MiG-31K interceptor fighter. In addition, the Russian military is completing tests of the latest Zircon anti-ship missile.
“The US military admits that a lack of talent has influenced the development of hypersonic missiles. Although the United States has high hopes for the project, they have not achieved any breakthrough. At the same time, the armies of Russia and China are already gradually equipped with hypersonic missiles. The United States continues to lag seriously behind the RF and the PRC in this area, and no one knows when this situation will improve, “the authors summed up.