Military expert Boris Litovkin said that after entering the atmosphere the ultra-maneuverable hypersonic reentry vehicles are able to shift their targets in flight thus making them extremely hard to intercept.
Russia and China are only able to maneuver the hypersonic missiles at short ranges. The hypersonic missiles are delivered by conventional rockets, fighters or other vehicles before separating and going the last few hundred miles to the target.
China had hypersonic missile successes in 2016 including an air to air missile
A Chinese J-16 strike fighter test-fired the giant missile in November, 2016 and successfully destroying the target drone at a very long range
US started earlier with hypersonic missiles but has had inconsistent funding and testing
The U.S. Army and Navy are teaming up to test a hypersonic glide vehicle in 2017, according to an Army official. The “offensive weapon technology” is part of the Department of Defense’s Conventional Prompt Global Strike demonstration.
Conventional prompt global strike (CPGS) weapons would allow the United States to strike targets anywhere on Earth in as little as an hour. This capability may bolster U.S. efforts to deter and defeat adversaries by allowing the United States to attack high-value targets or “fleeting targets” at the start of or during a conflict. Congress has generally supported the PGS mission, but it has restricted funding and suggested some changes in funding for specific programs.
The Air Force and Navy have both considered deploying conventional warheads on their long range ballistic missiles. The Navy sought to deploy conventional warheads on a small number of Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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