US catching up on hypersonic weapons?

 Fox News:

The United States Air Force conducted the successful launch of a hypersonic weapon off the coast of California this weekend, which flew at five times the speed of sound, a spokesperson said.

"Our highly-skilled team made history on this first air-launched hypersonic weapon," said Lt. Col. Michael Jungquist, the director of the 419th Flight Test Squadron and the Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force, who executed the test.

"We're doing everything we can to get this game-changing weapon to the warfighter as soon as possible," Jungquist added.

Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, Program Executive Officer for Weapons, celebrated the "major accomplishment" after a B-52H Stratofortress released an AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) at Edwards Air Force Base, in California, Saturday.

"This was a major accomplishment by the ARRW team, for the weapons enterprise, and our Air Force," Collins said. "The team's tenacity, expertise, and commitment were key in overcoming the past year's challenges to get us to the recent success. We are ready to build on what we've learned and continue moving hypersonics forward."

The ARRW achieved a speed of five times that of the speed of sound and burned for its expected duration, the official said.

China and Russia have also produced hypersonic weapons and Russia has actually sed them in Ukraine.  They did not change the strategic balance in the Ukraine war.  They could be of some value against a more advanced adversary such as Russia or China.  Their speed makes them harder to detect and defend against at this stage of development.  They still go boom when they hit their target just like conventional weapons. 

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