Trump touts 'super-duper' high-speed missile

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President Trump hinted at a new, high-speed missile being built by the U.S. military on Friday, which he said is faster than anything either Russia or China is working on.

During an event at the White House, Trump said that the “super-duper missile,” as he called it, is among the military equipment the U.S. is building as a means to keep up with adversaries.

“We have, I call it, the ‘super-duper missile,’" Trump continued. “I heard the other night, 17 times faster than what they have right now, when you take the fastest missile we have right now. You've heard Russia has five times and China's working on five or six times. We have one 17 times, and it's just gotten the go-ahead."

SPACE FORCE WILL START SMALL BUT LET TRUMP CLAIM A BIG WIN 

It is believed the “super-duper missile” could be a hypersonic missile, which can typically travel faster than 3,800 miles per hour – or five times the speed of sound.

The Pentagon confirmed it is working on hypersonic missiles in a tweet on Friday.

The Air Force solicited information from companies on hypersonic cruise missiles last month, arousing suspicions that it could be restarting a hypersonic weapons program. The missiles could be potentially loaded with conventional or even nuclear warheads.

This week it was announced that the Texas A&M University Board of Regents approved funding to create a new hypersonic weapons test facility for the Army.

Earlier on Friday, Trump unveiled the flag for the U.S. Space Force, which has been deemed the sixth branch of the U.S. military.

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The Space Force is the first service introduced to the military since the Air Force spun off from the Army in the 1940s. It was created as part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

Trump said the goals of the Space Force are not only to secure American dominance in space but also to promote national security and to increase warfighting capabilities.

Space-based activity is critical for everything from communications to internet broadband to predicting weather patterns.

The White House also said that space is integral to economic prosperity, with Morgan Stanley estimating it is a $350 billion opportunity and could help contribute toward the formation of the next trillion-dollar economy.

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