What is the Army’s Dark Eagle — and why is China worried?
2025-09-05
[YouTube - Task & Purpose] The U.S. Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, better known as Dark Eagle, just made its overseas debut at Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia — and China is not happy about it.
Dark Eagle is a new hypersonic missile designed to hit targets more than 1,700 miles away at speeds over Mach 5, giving the Army a way to punch through heavily defended airspace in minutes. After years of development, though, it only has two very recent successful test fires.
So why is China so worried about it? From northern Australia, Dark Eagle can put major Chinese outposts in range. Even without a live fire, just showing up in Australia was enough to trigger warnings about destabilization and escalation.