According to The Financial Times, the weapon China tested this summer fired something off in mid-flight while inside the atmosphere over the South China Sea.
The July test was reported last month, but details about it have been leaking out since.
The weapon is a kind of fractional orbital bombardment system like what the Soviets developed during the Cold War, but with a hypersonic glide vehicle.
US officials confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the Chinese hypersonic weapon released a projectile, possibly a missile or some form of countermeasure, in flight.
The US military leaders have described the test differently than the Chinese, but China has denied testing a weapon.
A test of a hypersonic weapon system was what we saw. Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that it was very concerning. I don't know if it's a Sputnik moment, but I think it's very close to that. It has all of our attention.
In an interview with CBS News, Gen. John Hyten, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until he retired from military service at the end of last week, described the test.
He said that they launched a long-range missile. "It went around the world, dropped off a hypersonic glide vehicle that glided all the way back to China, that impacted a target in China."
"From a technology perspective, it's pretty impressive, but it might not have been a Sputnik moment," he said.
He said that Sputnik created a sense of urgentness in the United States. The test on July 27 didn't create a sense of urgency. I think it will create a sense of urgentness.
It's difficult to say with certainty if the weapon system firing off a projectile inside the atmosphere is a demonstration of an advanced capability or if it's just a demonstration.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking into how China was able to release a secondary payload from a hypersonic glide vehicle.
Reports on China's hypersonic weapon testing come as the US tries to develop its own hypersonic weapons, which can fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, and can maneuver along unpredictable paths to skirt missile-defense systems, to compete with China and
Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations for Space Force, warned over the weekend that the US needs to catch up quickly if it wants to remain competitive with hypersonic weapons.
He said that we are not as advanced as the Chinese or Russians in terms of hypersonic programs.
The Department of Defense is pursuing hypersonic missiles at a slow pace, and last month, Hyten urged his successor to speed up the process.
