Inside the race for hypersonic weapons

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s chest-thumping March 1st Moscow speech has gotten a lot of attention for its claims about a nuclear-powered cruise missile, its video showing warheads raining down on Tampa Bay, and its braggadocious tone likely directed at one very braggadocious American. Mostly overlooked, however, have been its provocative statements about an entirely new class of weaponry that nuclear nations are racing to build: highly precise, long-range, hypersonic missiles.
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