Here's how hypersonics—objects that travel faster than Mach 5—compare to traditional cruise missiles and ICBMs.
Confusingly, “hypersonic weapons” is a category that refers to two different kinds of missiles, which share a very fast speed but differ in how they fly, and the trajectories they take.Hypersonic glide vehicles are carried by a rocket to the edge of the atmosphere, and then dip back down, gliding at fast speed back to earth. These can maneuver a little in flight, but they are doing so as gliders, without independent thrust of their own. North Korea’s hypersonic weapon is a glide vehicle.
The specific trajectory of hypersonic glide weapons offer one possible way around a country’s ballistic missile defenses. Other ways to get around ballistic missile defense is for the ICBMs to release chaff and decoys to foil such defenses, and also use multiple warheads that split off in flight, ensuring some harm always gets through.Meanwhile, hypersonic cruise missiles are powered by onboard engines, released from planes in flight, and maneuver the entire time they are in flight.
A hypersonic cruise missile offers the hitting power of a cruise missile, with less time for detection. That makes it harder to scramble jets to shoot it down, or use existing anti-air missiles to prevent it from reaching its target. Because the kinetic energy of the HAWC is so great, the force of it hitting most targets will often be enough to cause the same amount of harm as a conventional warhead.
In pursuing HAWC, the US military is one step closer to a missile that can fly low and obliterate a person, vehicle, or building without notice. It will provide, as Raytheon vice president of advanced technology Colin WhelanYet the shape of that war, the one that will be enhanced by having HAWC-style missiles on hand, is yet to be determined.
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