China is spreading rumors its stalled hypersonic weapons program is being refined to defeat both the U.S. MIM-104F Patriot Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air missile (SAM) system protecting Japan from Chinese ballistic missiles, and the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile defense system soon to defend South Korea against North Korean ballistic missiles.

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The People's Liberation Army (PLA) website hopped onto news reports circulated by foreign news outlets saying China's now plans to develop hypersonic weapons (or missiles that fly in excess of Mach 5 or 6,000 km/h) specifically designed to penetrate Japan's PAC-3 missile system and South Korea's THAAD.

PLA said these new weapons are hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs). These next-generation maneuvering strike weapons will be the payload of ballistic missiles that travel at speeds of up to Mach 10 (12,000 km/h). HGVs can maneuver and glide along the atmospheric edge, which makes it tougher for the PAC-3 and THAAD interceptors to destroy.

PLA argues that with China's hypersonic weapons advances, "Japan's anti-missile system could be made impotent."

The revelation about this alleged enhancement to China's ongoing hypersonic weapons program comes as Japan is in the midst of upgrading its PAC-3 system to protect the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games from North Korean missiles.

The upgrades, which began in mid-2016, are expected to be completed within 2017 and are the most significant improvements to Japan's missile defense system in a decade. They involve deploying the new advanced Missile Segment Enhancement that will double the range of the current PAC-3 missiles to 30 km.

The Republic of Korea Armed Forces operates the older PAC-2 system and will replace this system with the PAC-3 by 2018. U.S. forces based in South Korea will upgrade their PAC-3 batteries defending the capital Seoul to the system now being installed on Japan's PAC-3 system.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) also operates PAC-3 systems and last week redeployed some of its PAC-3 batteries to locations from which they can better shoot down Chinese missiles fired from directly across the Taiwan Strait.

Tagschina, hypersonic weapons program, MIM-104F Patriot Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD), People's Liberation Army, hypersonic glide vehicles, HGVs, 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games