Hypersonic weapon
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Hypersonic weapons are weapons travelling at hypersonic speed – at between 5 and 25 times the speed of sound, about 1 to 5 miles per second (1.6 to 8.0 km/s).[1]
Below such speeds, weapons would be characterized as subsonic or supersonic, while above such speeds, the molecules of the atmosphere disassociate into a plasma which makes control and communication difficult. Directed-energy weapons such as lasers may operate at higher speeds but are considered a different class of weaponry.
There are multiple types of hypersonic weapon:
- hypersonic glide vehicle : missiles which maneuver and glide through the atmosphere at high speeds after an initial ballistic launch phase[2][1]
- hypersonic cruise missiles: cruise missiles which use air-breathing engines such as scramjets to reach high speeds[2][1]
- hypersonic aircraft using air-breathing engines such as scramjets to reach high speeds[1]
- guns which fire guided projectiles. These may be developments of traditional artillery or novel technologies such as railguns.[1]
- ballistic missiles traveling at high speeds during its atmospheric reentry
Currently China, India, Iran, Russia and US have developed fully functional hypersonic weapons in the form of glide vehicles, ballistic missiles, rail guns and air breathing cruise missiles having their own respective independent programs and have demonstrated sustained hypersonic combustions.
List of hypersonic weapons
See also Hypersonic flight#Hypersonic weapons, National Defense Space Architecture
Plans, programs and projects for such weaponry include:
- Silbervogel, the first design, made in the 1930s.[3]
- 3M22 Zircon
- AGM-183 ARRW – an Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon or "Arrow"
- Avangard
- Boeing X-51 Waverider
- BrahMos-II
- Cannon-Caliber Electromagnetic Gun launcher
- DARPA Falcon Project (Hypersonic Weapon System (HWS))
- DF-ZF mounted on the DF-17
- HGV-202F
- Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile
- Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2
- Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV)
- Kh-15
- Kh-47M2 Kinzhal
- Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon
- OpFires
- Prompt Global Strike (Advanced Hypersonic Weapon)
- SCIFiRE
- Shaurya (missile)
- YJ-21
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e John T. Watts; Christian Trotti; Mark J. Massa (August 2020), Primer on Hypersonic Weapons in the Indo-Pacific Region (PDF), Atlantic Council, ISBN 978-1-61977-111-6
- ^ a b "'National pride is at stake.' Russia, China, United States race to build hypersonic weapons". www.science.org. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ David Wright; Cameron Tracy (1 August 2021), "Overhyped: The Physics and Hype of Hypersonic Weapons", Scientific American, 325 (2): 64–71, doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0821-64 (inactive 31 July 2022)
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2022 (link)
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