A hypersonic weapon being developed by the U.S. military was destroyed four seconds after its launch from a test range in Alaska early Monday after controllers detected a problem with the system, the Pentagon said.
The weapon is part of a program to create a missile that will destroy targets anywhere on Earth within an hour of getting data and permission to launch.
The mission was aborted to ensure public safety, and no one was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time at the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, said Maureen Schumann, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department.