After a delay of more than three years, the U.S. Army admits: the U.S.'s first hypersonic weapon is still not fully deployed.

[Global Network Report, Reporter Jiang Ailing] According to reports from Bloomberg and other foreign media on the 14th local time, the U.S. Army stated that the U.S.'s first hypersonic weapon, "Dark Eagle," has not yet completed full-scale deployment, admitting that its deployment schedule has been delayed by more than three years. Bloomberg reported that currently, the U.S. lags behind China and Russia in this field.

The U.S. Army's project office stated in a statement that the Army is "continuing to advance" the deployment of the hypersonic missile named "Dark Eagle." Additional training, as well as other maintenance support and operational readiness work, must be completed before the weapon system can be announced as fully deployed.

The report mentioned that the U.S. Army has previously missed several deployment deadlines for this weapon system, including the targets originally set for completion in 2023 and 2025. Frank Lozano, the head of the U.S. Army's missile program, revealed to Bloomberg in July that the contractor Lockheed Martin's missile production line has encountered some "quality defects," and the military is working to resolve these issues.

It is reported that "Dark Eagle" is a hypersonic missile jointly developed by the U.S. Army and Navy, with the U.S. claiming that this missile has a range of approximately 2,800 kilometers. The missile can fly at speeds exceeding five times the speed of sound and can change direction during flight, increasing the difficulty of interception.

The report noted that the delay of "Dark Eagle" highlights the Pentagon's difficulties in independently developing hypersonic missiles. Despite having invested over $12 billion since 2018, the U.S. still lags behind China and Russia in this technological field.