Hypersonics: Adding Speed to the Quiver
By Tech Sgt. Perry Aston, Airman Magazine / Published July 21, 2021
Pentagon, Va. --
The United States has a long history of employing advanced technology in war. In that tradition, the U.S. Air Force is developing hypersonic weapons that can maneuver to evade interception while flying five-times faster than the speed of sound.
Technical surprise is the unique advantage of introducing a weapon system never before seen on the battlefield.
In the early 1800s, the U.S Navy’s original six frigates were a generation ahead of any ship on the ocean, capable of overpowering any French or British frigate but also fast enough to evade any ship in any navy.
Years later, in the skies over Baghdad, the world witnessed the capabilities of stealth technology and precision-guided munitions which rendered Iraq's Russian-supplied air defense systems ineffective. Today, there is a new capability on the rise ― hypersonics, but the U.S. is racing to avoid being the one technologically surprised on the battlefield.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. has clearly stated in his Action Orders that all Airmen must understand Chinese and Russian objectives, mindset, and warfare methods.
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VIDEO | 04:43 | Hypersonics: The Race for Speed
One of those peer objectives is developing hypersonic weapons that can maneuver to evade interception while flying five-times faster than the speed of sound.
As the Air Force endeavors to “design and field the future force we need,” it elicits support from industry partners and Congress to quickly and aggressively pursue hypersonic technologies to maintain superiority over peer adversaries in a high-end fight.
https://www.airmanmagazine.af.mil/Features/Display/Article/2698845/hypersonics-adding-speed-to-the-quiver/
