Since the 1980s, the United States has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the development of missile defenses capable of not only protecting the homeland but also multibillion-dollar platforms like aircraft carriers and Air Force bases that are home to our most advanced warplanes.
But over the past decade or so as the U.S. remained bogged down in two low-level conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Russians and the Chinese were pouring money into the development of next-gen missiles that are so fast current missile defense systems are essentially obsolete.
The Russians appear to have fielded a hypersonic missile that far outclasses any current U.S. missile defense system. In fact, Moscow has used its hypersonic missiles at least a dozen times in its war with Ukraine.
Meanwhile the Chinese are on the verge of fielding a similar weapon. And while the Pentagon made some strides toward developing a hypersonic weapon in recent months, our country is still years away from deploying it.
That means, in the meantime, America and American forces are extremely vulnerable to such weapons.
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