Trump touts new ‘super-duper’ missile that can allegedly travel 17 times faster than current missiles

by Marty Johnson - 05/16/20 4:13 PM ET

President Trump on Friday touted a mysterious new military asset: a missile that could travel significantly faster than any warhead the U.S. currently has in its arsenal.

“We are building, right now, incredible military equipment at a level that nobody has ever seen before. We have no choice. We have to do it with the adversaries we have out there. We have, I call it the super-duper missile, and I heard the other night — 17 times faster than what they have right now,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

Trump’s comments came during a White House event where he signed the 2020 Armed Forces Day Proclamation. During the ceremony, the administration also unveiled the flag of the country’s newest military wing, the Space Force. It’s the first new military flag to be unveiled in 72 years.

“Space is going to be the future, both in terms of defense and offense and so many other things,” Trump said. “And already, from what I’m hearing and based on reports, we’re now the leader in space.”

A Pentagon spokesman was asked about the “super-duper missile” during a subsequent press call and referred reporters back to the White House.

Friday evening, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman tweeted, “The Department of Defense is working on developing a range of hypersonic missiles to counter our adversaries.”

The Department of Defense is working on developing a range of hypersonic missiles to counter our adversaries. https://t.co/ATb1XLHFtl

— Jonathan Rath Hoffman (@ChiefPentSpox) May 15, 2020