US hypersonic missile test fails: report

An American hypersonic missile test flight ended in a failure in Hawaii on Wednesday, Bloomberg has reported citing the Pentagon, according to Russia Today. The US Department of Defense offered few details of what happened, stating only that “an anomaly occurred following ignition of the test asset.”

“While the Department was unable to collect data on the entirety of the planned flight profile, the information gathered from this event will provide vital insights,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Lieutenant Commander Tim Gorman was quoted as saying by the Bloomberg.

The botched test was part of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) program, under which Lockheed Martin is trying to develop weapons capable of flying at speeds of Mach 5 and above, for the use of submarines and surface ships.

It suffered another setback in October 2021, when a booster rocket failed to deliver its hypersonic glide vehicle during a test at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. The booster was not part of the weapon system, defense officials stressed at the time.

Despite the failure of both tests, the Pentagon said it remains confident that it is on track to field offensive hypersonic capabilities in the early 2020s.