Pentagon prepares new generation of hypersonic weapons of high precision

Making a speech at the National Defense University in Washington, US President George Bush spoke about the spending of the US Department of Defense. Bush said that the Pentagon actively works on the weapons of new generation. The USA gradually reduces its nuclear potential and invests into the potential of enhanced conventional weapons.

Photo: Pentagon prepares new generation of hypersonic weapons of high precision

The Cold War strategies have become old-fashioned nowadays. The nuclear arms that used to balance the US-Soviet relations have lost their value. Modern-day specialists develop new kinds of non-nuclear weapons that have enough capacity to retrain external threats. Such novelties particularly include unmanned airplanes, on which the Pentagon actively works now. The list continues with long-range missiles of high precision that allow to strike enemy’s targets at large distances very fast without the use of nuclear technologies.

This project is known as Prompt Global Strike weapons. Missiles used in this program will be equipped with non-nuclear warheads. More importantly, they will be able to strike targets in any part of the world within only one hour after launch.

A hypersonic missile will be like a surgical instrument in operations of preventive and reciprocal strikes. The weapon will be able to easily destroy a car or a group of buildings, depending on the goal. However, the first test of the new weapons will take place in the middle of 2008. In addition, it will take several years to put the missiles in the arsenal of the US Armed Forces. To maintain the defensive ability of the United States during this period, the Pentagon plans to use Trident II sea-based ballistic missiles, reequipped with non-nuclear warheads.

The House of Representatives of the US Congress approved the assignment of $125 million in the Prompt Global Strike project. The Congress ordered the Pentagon to prepare all the required data on the project not later than January 31, 2008.

U.S. President Bush emphasized during his speech at the National Defense University that those systems would provide more than just protection for U.S. citizens. They will strengthen the containment potential.

Bush did not forget to mention the missile defense system, the elements of which Washington plans to deploy in Eastern Europe. Bush stated that Iran was likely to build a nuclear weapon already in 2015. The missile, as Bush said, would be able to strike targets in Europe. Therefore, he continued, the missile defense system should be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic urgently. Unlike Bush, Pentagon’s head Robert Gates believes that the USA will be willing to postpone the missile defense project in Eastern Europe if Russia agrees to cooperate with Washington.

Utro

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru