00:00The Dark Eagle hypersonic missile cost $15 million, can fly at five times the speed of sound, and evade defenses.
00:07For the first time ever, the U.S. is looking to deploy these weapons.
00:11Almost three weeks into the Iran war ceasefire, U.S. Central Command has asked to move the advanced hypersonic missiles,
00:17which have not been officially declared operational and have never been used in combat, to the Middle East.
00:23The request says Dark Eagle is needed to hit Iranian launchers that have been moved beyond the range of other
00:29U.S. weapons.
00:30Dark Eagle can reportedly fly more than 1,750 miles.
00:35Now, the U.S. isn't the only country with hypersonic strike missiles.
00:39China and Russia also have them.
00:41China in particular has focused on adding them to its enormous conventional ballistic missile arsenal.
00:46The U.S. has said it controls parts of Iranian airspace, but many areas are too dangerous for planes to
00:53conduct strike missions,
00:54and dozens of aircraft have been destroyed in the war so far.
00:58As a result, U.S. forces have fired thousands of other long-range weapons, including Tomahawk and stealthy JASM-ER
01:05cruise missiles.
01:06Adding Dark Eagle to that mix would send a signal to U.S. adversaries that its most advanced capabilities are
01:12ready to fight,
01:13but it would also commit a rare valuable system to a war that has already consumed billions of dollars worth
01:19of weapons
01:20that, like Dark Eagle, were developed to confront a much more powerful foe, China.
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