South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development (ADD) released an animation video of the country’s first hypersonic weapon called “Hycore”.
“Hycore”, which was announced by the Korea Agency for Defense Development (ADD) on Friday. According to reports, South Korea plans to start testing it in 2022.
The graphically rendered video shows the basic structure of the rocket, including the jet engine and two-stage solid propellant. According to Sputnik news, agency Hycore appears to have a similar operating model to the Russian Zircon hypersonic missile.
According to the image provided by South Korea, the Hycore hypersonic missile has a shape quite similar to the supersonic vehicle X-51 Waverider that Boeing is testing. Hycore’s reach has not been announced.
The Hycore hypersonic weapon is said to be capable of traveling at Mach 6.2 (six times faster than the speed of sound). With this speed, Hycore is capable of surpassing most current air defense systems.
Hycore can be launched from submarines, ships or aircraft. According to Aviation Week, Seoul will begin testing this weapon in 2022.
North Korea announced its first hypersonic test in September this year, and Russia also has several hypersonic weapons in service. The United States is in a backward position in this regard. Although the country has several weapons in different stages of testing, multiple failures have delayed their plans. Washington currently has no available hypersonic weapons.