Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a four-time Wash100 Award winner, said China’s test of a hypersonic weapons technology in August is “very concerning,” The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“I don’t know if it’s quite a Sputnik moment, but I think it’s very close to that,” Milley said in a television interview that aired Wednesday. “It has all of our attention.”
China is advancing the development of nuclear weapons capabilities, ballistic missile submarines and new missile silos. Milley added that the East Asian country is also “expanding rapidly” across land, air, maritime, space and cyberspace domains.
“We’re in one of the most significant changes in what I call the ‘character of war,’” Milley said. “We’re going to have to adjust our military going forward.”
He noted that the U.S. is also pursuing development and experimentation work on hypersonics, robotics and artificial intelligence, among other technologies.
