New Hypersonic Weapons Could Change The Face Of Warfare

Here's How Hypersonic Weapons Could Completely Change the Face of Warfare

Joseph Trevithick

Imagine an enemy deciding to attack from 1,000 miles away. Now, imagine you have less than 15 minutes to react and may not even see their missile coming in the first place. This is the potential threat posed by so-called “hypersonic weapons,” which can fly as fast as a mile a second and low enough to evade many existing defenses.

Though there is much attention given to the expanding threat of ballistic missiles, especially from countries such as Iran and North Korea, American military officials are increasingly concerned about hypersonic weapons. Though the basic concept isn’t by any means new, technological advancements have made the notion of gliders and air-breathing vehicles flying at Mach 5 or faster significantly viable, with the United States, Russia, and China all actively experimenting with such designs.

“Hypersonic glide vehicles are threats both Russia and China are building now,” U.S. Air Force General John Hyten, in charge of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), told American lawmakers at a recent hearing, according to The Washington Examiner. “They are very, very significant in terms of our ability to see them and provide warning.”

To put things in comparison, a hypersonic missile flying at between five and 10 times the speed of sound is fast, but still just on par, if not slower than many ballistic missiles. Though missile powers are understandably tight lipped about what their intercontinental ballistic missiles can do, it is widely accepted that they can reach a point of impact more than 6,000 miles away in between 30 to 35 minutes. This equates to approximately three miles per second.

More....