The U.S.’s top uniformed military officer called China’s suspected test of a hypersonic weapons system a "very concerning” development in the escalating competition between Washington and Beijing.
"What we saw was a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapon system. And it is very concerning,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview for "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” on Bloomberg Television. "I don’t know if it’s quite a Sputnik moment, but I think it’s very close to that. It has all of our attention.”
Milley’s comments are the most significant acknowledgment by a U.S. official of reports that China’s military conducted possibly two hypersonic weapons tests over the summer, including the launch into space of an orbiting hypersonic weapon capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The Financial Times first reported the tests, citing officials it didn’t name.