A hypersonic rocket sled barreled down a test track at a U.S. Air Force base at 6,599 miles per hour last week, according to a video released by the Air Force.
The video footage showed the sled zooming down a track at nearly two miles per second at the Holloman Air Force Base around Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The sled traveled so fast, it is almost impossible to see it move with the naked eye, and viewers would need an extra high-speed camera to catch the sled in motion.
The sled was several miles away from where the track-side camera was positioned.
The Pentagon has announced an interest in exploring hypersonic weaponry after Russia successfully tested a hypersonic missile in 2018, the Daily Mail reported.
Defense News reported in July that these weapons travel at least five times the speed of sound, and creating an arsenal of these weapons remains the Pentagon’s top priority because military leaders want to destroy enemy systems in contested battlegrounds.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.