These Are the Hypersonic Missiles that Terrify the U.S. Military
China and Russia are dominating the hypersonic arms race—and it’s not even close
BY LOUIS MAZZANTEPUBLISHED: JAN 9, 2023
Earlier this year, Russia fired its newest and most dangerous weapon from the belly of a MiG-31 fighter jet. When the hypersonic Kinzhal missile lit its rocket engines and shrieked across the sky at speeds up to Mach 5 toward a target in the Ukraine, it marked the first time a hypersonic weapon has been used in a conflict.
The Kinzhal and missiles like it are at the tip of a technological revolution in weapon development. These hypersonics can reach speeds up to Mach 10, but more importantly are highly agile. Existing ballistic missiles travel faster, reaching Mach 20 as they sail high above the earth’s atmosphere, where there’s less drag to slow them down. But to reach those speeds, ballistic missiles fly in predetermined arcs, like a cannonball, which makes them easy to track and shoot down. The next-gen hypersonic missiles can fly low (below 60,000 feet), adjust course midflight, and maneuver around missile-defense systems. Military analysts have called them “unstoppable.”
“Hypersonic weaponry represents the most significant advancement in missile technology since [Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles] ICBMs,” wrote the authors of a 2021 report by security think tank RUSI. “[They] are on their way to undermining nuclear-deterrence postures and creating cracks in strategic stability by the mid-2020s.”
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a42386379/hypersonic-missiles-arms-race/
