TextThe Pentagon announced that the U.S. military successfully tested a new weapon system capable of traveling at least five times the speed of sound. Advanced Hypersonic Weapon was released from a facility in Hawaii and reached its target in the Kwajalein Atoll, 3,700 kilometers away in half an hour. The missile, which can maneuver in flight to avoid crossing the territory of third countries, is part of a larger program that seeks to give U.S. forces the means to send conventional weapons anywhere in the world in an hour.

The Pentagon has invested 239.9 million dollars in the Global Strike program this year, including 69 million for the flying bomb tested Thursday, CRS said.

U.S. perfects super-strike weapon:

The U.S. successfully tested the second-phase of its hypersonic missile system for its Prompt Global Strike’ program- a missile defense weapon capable of striking targets anywhere in the world in about an hour. The latest weapons test was launched by a rocket from Hawaii at 1130 GMT. The “Advanced Hypersonic Weapon,” or AHW, glided through the upper atmosphere over the Pacific “at hypersonic speed” before striking its target on the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands, a Pentagon statement said. Prompt Global Strike was developed by the U.S. for a quick retaliatory response from would-be adversaries or what the U.S. considers ‘rogue or terrorist states.’ U.S. super-sonic missile technology also brings the Pentagon into the same arena with Russia, China and India who have already deployed hypersonic guided-missile technology in their weaponry.