"The US Army and Navy recently initiated a test of a conventional hypersonic system at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida," the official said. "This test was an essential benchmark in the development of operational hypersonic technology."
Vital data on the performance of the hardware and software was collected that will inform the continued progress toward fielding hypersonic weapons, the official added.
The US military was scheduled to test the US Army's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), developed by Lockheed Martin, over the Caribbean last week, media reported.
Earlier this month, the White House announced the United States would begin episodic deployments of non-nuclear "long-range fires capabilities" to Germany in 2026, which will include developmental hypersonic weapons that will have a significantly longer range than current land-based US missile systems deployed in Europe.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will no longer be bound by a moratorium on deploying medium- and short-range strike weapons if the United States deploys these types of missile systems to Germany.
The LRHW, also known as Dark Eagle, is one of a few US hypersonic weapons systems under development that has the best chance to be fielded soon. It missed its target date to be fielded by 2023 but the new goal is to have it ready for deployment by next year.
According to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Army cannot field an operational system until it conducts a successful end-to-end missile flight test, as the two most recent tests in 2023 were incomplete due to launcher and launch sequence issues.