China & Russia’s Hypersonic Gliders Can Penetrate US Missile Defenses

China and Russia have both successfully tested their offset hypersonic gliders which they claim are capable of penetrating the American THAAD system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). The U.S. plans to deploy the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea to counter threats from North Korea. Chinese military experts consider the tests a “warning to the US.” Sputnik reports: “The hypersonic tests by China and Russia are aimed at causing a threat to the US, which plans to set up a missile defense system in South Korea,” the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper writes, quoting Professor He Qisong, a defense policy specialist at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. His comment refers to the recent successful tests by the two countries of their offset Hypersonic Gliders. The view is echoed by Beijing-based military expert Li Jie, who said that China was trying to use the recent DF-ZF test to warn the US that the PLA (Chinese People’s Liberation Army) had “another powerful weapon capable of countering the THAAD system.” The US proposes to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, claiming it is needed to protect its regional allies from North Korea. The proposal has already been condemned by both China and Russia as an aggravation of the [...]