China, with the help of a launch vehicle, launched a hypersonic glider capable of carrying nuclear weapons in August.
This was reported by the British newspaper Financial Times, citing sources in government circles of the United States and a number of Asian countries.
According to their data, the GLA, which flew through low-orbit space during the tests, could not reach the set goal, having passed several tens of kilometers from it. However, as the publication noted, American military leaders were still impressed by the launch, which demonstrated significant progress by Chinese scientists in the development of hypersonic weapons.
"We have no idea how they did it," the newspaper quoted one of the representatives of the US intelligence community as saying.
According to Financial Times sources, in theory such a missile can fly through the South Pole, which will pose a great threat to the American missile defense system, focused on repelling possible attacks from the North polar direction.
In turn, the representative of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, Liu Pengyu, pointed out that Beijing's military policy "is defensive in nature."
According to the publication, Eadaily notes, the GLA was developed by specialists of the Chinese Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, which is part of the state defense corporation China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation).
The newspaper's sources stressed that the launch of the GLA was carried out with the help of a carrier rocket of the Changzheng family, created by a subsidiary of CASC.
