On Monday’s broadcast of “Fox News Primetime,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) said the nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that China tested is “the ultimate first attack weapon” because hypersonic missiles can evade U.S. defense systems, and “This is a Sputnik moment, and we need a wake-up call in this country.”
Waltz stated, “I was just out at the Space Command and at NORAD, which defends North America, last week, and let me just tell you why this is so dangerous. A normal ballistic missile launches on a trajectory, and with that geometry, our missile defenses can pick it up and can shoot it down. It’s hard. It’s like shooting a bullet with a bullet. But these hypersonic missiles, imagine a maneuverable bullet that flies below our systems in space, but above our systems on the ground and can fly around to the backside of them and then fall to the earth at hypersonic — at supersonic speeds that our missile defenses cannot pick up and cannot shoot down. This is the ultimate first attack weapon. This is a Sputnik moment, and we need a wake-up call in this country.”
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