In this handout image released by the US Navy, a hypersonic missile launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, on March 19, 2020. (OSCAR SOSA / US NAVY / AFP)

WASHINGTON - The US Department of Defense "is working on developing a range of hypersonic missiles," press secretary Jonathan Hoffman said on Twitter Friday.

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The tweet came hours after US President Donald Trump said the United States is "building right now incredible military equipment."

Hypersonic weapons can travel at five times the speed of sound and faster, according to Raytheon Technologies, a major US defense contractor

"We have, I call it the Super Duper Missile, and I heard the other night 17 times faster than what they have right now," he said at an Oval Office event, where he was presented the official flag of the US Space Force.

Hypersonic weapons can travel at five times the speed of sound and faster, according to Raytheon Technologies, a major US defense contractor.

The Center for Public Integrity, a US investigative journalism organization, tweeted on Friday that hypersonic missiles "are touching off a new global arms race that threatens to change the nature of warfare."

The United States has spent far more than any other country in the world to build armed forces and make weapons. 

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