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‘Hypersonic’ or ‘hypersonic’, as we say, is a kind of superlative of ‘sonus’, the Latin word for ‘sound’”, says expert Patrick Bolder of think tank HCSS. “It means that you are ‘excessive’ much faster than the ‘sound’. About five to twenty times.” So 6,000 to 24,000 km per hour, or Mach 5 to Mach 20.
The former lieutenant colonel in the Air Force doubts whether Vladimir Putin actually fired a hypersonic missile. A weapons depot is in his eyes a very small target for such a very expensive thing.
“They have him, but I did not see that he was deployed,” emphasizes the air weapons specialist. “I think it’s a bluff, a signal. Such a missile can travel a distance of 2000 km, so that the West does not think it is safe.”
Showpiece
He is referring to the Kindzhal missile, which is fired by a MiG fighter jet. Another supersonic showpiece is the Tsirkon, which was tested from a submarine last October but was previously launched from a frigate. This cruise missile, mainly usable against ships, flies at a speed of Mach 7 (8400 km per hour) but has ‘only’ a range of 250 to 500 km. And then the Russians have the Avangard, which reaches Mach 20 and is fired from an installation on the ground.
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Hypersonic warfare combines two properties of ‘traditional’ missiles: the speed of a ballistic missile, which is also faster than sound, and the maneuverability of a classic cruise missile. But in order to reach that speed, a hypersonic air weapon, unlike a ballistic missile, does not have to leave the atmosphere in a parabolic orbit up to 250 km altitude.
Atmosphere
“It stays at about 80 kilometers altitude, just below the limit of the atmosphere and is so maneuverable that it can even change its orbit,” says Patrick Bolder. “It allows him to bypass the US missile defense system. Because it flies so low, it only enters the ground radar’s detection zone at the very last moment and there is too little time to react.”
The Americans and Europeans are developing hypersonic counterbalances to the Russian and Chinese missiles. However, they are not yet operational.
Sea targets
The French online medium Meta-Defense reported in February that the Pentagon wants to use the SM-6 missile to counter hypersonic threats for as long as possible. An SM-6 can, thanks to its on-board radar, engage targets that are beyond the launch pad’s radar horizon. In addition, he can also attack naval targets and ballistic missiles in the atmosphere.
These are interesting but worrying times for defense specialists as supersonic missiles can be equipped with nuclear warheads. “Yes, there are plenty of challenges,” admits the lieutenant colonel bd
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