By 2018, the Chinese payoff was already becoming apparent. In August, they claimed to have successfully tested the Xingkong-2 “Waverider”—a hypersonic cruise missile capable of moving forward on its own shockwaves. (The U.S. Air Force had been developing a similar concept called the X-51 but allowed the program to die out in 2013.) In 2019, China claimed it had added the “Dongfeng-17” to its arsenal—a hypersonic glide vehicle, similar to what was ultimately part of the “Sputnik moment” test—mounted on a rocket so powerful that it was dubbed the “aircraft-carrier killer.” Also debuting in 2019
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