Bullets:

  • China is the world leader in the development and deployment of hypersonic missile systems.
  • Russia and Iran also have successfully built and recently used hypersonic platforms in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
  • The United States is racing to close the gap, and hopes to build systems for some Army units next year.
  • But the problem is that no air defense platforms can intercept inbound hypersonic munitions.
  • This is the reality that confronts career politicians and military officers in Western countries: an armed conflict against any country with hypersonic missiles invites catastrophic losses to ground bases and naval fleet assets.
  • Those risks will be deemed unacceptably high, and in the event of potential conflict in the Western Pacific or Persian Gulf will likely result in disengagement and withdrawal of American naval forces.
  • ZetaLightning94@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    They can go fast, but hows their accuracy? Faster you go, the harder it is to control and the less likely you will make your mark

    • Gustephan@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Their accuracy is as good as any other projectile with onboard thrust vectoring, a global satellite network to help it make targeting course corrections from hundreds/thousands of miles away, and a team of engineers with hundreds of combined years of experience in the field of balistics behind each shot. I do think that hypersonics fall into the “paper tiger media darling” category of weapon, but not because of their accuracy. Hypersonics don’t change MAD math at all; nukes with MIRV are already effectively uncounterable (and amusingly enough this class of weapon also reaches hypersonic speeds during re-entry). The only situation in which a hypersonic would really be desirable over a cheaper conventional weapon is a moving, well defended high value target like an AWACS platform or a plane full of politicians. It is a more capable weapon in that situation, but in any other situation shooting a hypersonic is a case of firing a missile that cost 8 figures at a problem that likely could have been solved with a much cheaper munition. Imo the primary value of hypersonic weapons is writing stories about them in the media and making filth like putin worry that the US might really be able to guide a missile past his air defenses and directly up his puckered fascist asshole.