Russia and China deployed their first hypersonic capabilities in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Research into the new class of armaments was resumed in the early 2000s, after Washington scrapped the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which put severe limits on the creation of a shield meant to destroy traditional intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), the surface-to-air, anti-ballistic and anti-ship missile used by the US Navy, is currently America’s only means of defence against enemy hypersonic weapons, Vice Admiral Jon Hill said.
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