Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley says that China ’s suspected test of a hypersonic weapon is « very concerning » and likened it …
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley says that China ’s suspected test of a hypersonic weapon is « very concerning » and likened it to the « Sputnik moment » that occurred as the Soviet Union and the United States were competing in the space race in the late 1950s. « What we saw was a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapon system. And it is very concerning, » Milley said this week during an interview on Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein show. « I don’t know if it’s quite a Sputnik moment, but I think it’s very close to that. It has all of our attention. » White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged Milley’s comment in a White House briefing Wednesday saying, « I think what he was conveying was the concern we all have about China’s military modernization efforts. They continue to pursue capabilities that increase tensions in the region, and we continue to have concerns about that. » Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the first Pentagon official to confirm on the record the nature of a test this year by the Chinese military that the Financial Times had reported was a nuclear-capable hypersonic weapon that was launched into space and orbited the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding toward its target in China.
