Are Hypersonic Weapons Being Over-Hyped

An illustration of a prototype warhead known as the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 emerging from its protective cover and preparing to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. Credit Department of Defense 

New York Times: Hypersonic Superweapons Are a Mirage, New Analysis Says 

Two scientists find revolutionary claims about the evasion of detection and defenses to be “nonsense.”

Military experts call hypersonic warheads the next big thing in intercontinental warfare. 

They see the emerging arms, which can deliver nuclear or conventional munitions, as zipping along at up to five miles a second while zigzagging through the atmosphere to outwit early-warning satellites and some interceptors. 

The superfast weapons, experts say, lend themselves to surprise attacks.

President Trump has bragged about his “super-dupers,” even referring to the planned weapon as “hydrosonic,” a brand of electric toothbrush. 

Last year, his budget asked the Pentagon to spend $3.2 billion on hypersonic arms research, up $600 million from the previous year’s request. And as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes command of the nation’s military, he will have to consider whether to sustain the defense work undertaken in the Trump years. 

Now, independent experts have studied the technical performance of the planned weapon and concluded that its advertised features are more illusory than real. 

Their analysis is to be published this week in Science & Global Security. 

In an interview, David Wright, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author of the new analysis, called the superweapon a mirage. 

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WNU Editor: Are hypersonic warheads the next big thing in intercontinental warfare? The Russians (Russia’s 1st regiment of Avangard hypersonic missiles to assume full strength in 2021, TASS) and Chinese (China's DF-17 hypersonic missile seen to get stealth upgrade, reports show, Global Times) definitely think so, who see these weapon systems as the next big thing.

Update: Are Hypersonic Weapons Really ‘Super-Dupers’ And The Next Big Thing In The Global Arms Race? (EurAsian Times).

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