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Putin says Russian Navy to get hypersonic nuclear strike weapons

11 points by rch 6y ago

zalkota 6y ago
Cool? They’ll never use them
- NotSammyHagar 6y ago
  We hope. To me the worry is less time to consider false notices of attacks. Any attack will be met by devastating counter attacks so there should never be a consideration that any notice is a real attack. There are many almost launches where there was false notice (the moon reflects radar, etc).
  - sgillen 6y ago
    Definitely, I worry about this a lot. I do wonder about some of the close call stories that are out there. It seems like in its in Russia’s best interest to project an image that they are willing to launch without hesitation. So I wonder if any of the stories of “two officers wanted to launch and only the third saved us all” stories are propaganda. I don’t have any evidence of this, and I definitely don’t want to play down the risk of nuclear war.
christefano 6y ago
Had to look up “hypersonic,” so consider this back of the envelope math from an interested amateur. Hypersonic is the term used for speeds over Mach 5. Mach 1 is equal to the speed of sound, however the speed of sound varies at different elevation. Sound travels slower in mediums that are less dense, so the higher you go in elevation the slower Mach is. Mach 5 is about 6,125km/h (3,805.9mph) at sea level, and about 5,339 km/h (3,317.5mph) at 35,000ft, which makes is where you’ll see lots of commercial airliners. Source: https://www.quora.com/How-fast-is-mach-5-speed?share=1 https://www.quora.com/How-fast-is-mach-5-speed?share=1
- deleted 6y ago
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perl4ever 6y ago
Nuclear missiles are normally hypersonic, so it seems like the difference is that these are cruise missiles and not ballistic missiles?
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Nuclear missiles are normally hypersonic, Ballistic missiles usually are, cruise missiles usually are not; both can be nuclear (or not). > so it seems like the difference is that these are cruise missiles and not ballistic missiles? The combination of nuclear, hypersonic, and cruise is what is significant, yes.
  - alecmg 6y ago
    Add to combination use of atmospheric oxygen to make it really significant and a technological breakthrough. Its relatively easy to build a rocket carrying both fuel and oxygen and make it go hypersonic. Using oxidiser from air gives it unique range and maneuverability capabilities.
- jjk166 6y ago
  They are referring to hypersonic glide vehicles here. Whereas conventional warheads follow a ballistic trajectory that can be predicted while in transit, hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) can at least to a limited extent maneuver. HGVs also tend to fly on a lower trajectory than ballistic warheads, meaning they are more difficult to detect by radar. These two factors make HGVs good at getting past current anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems like those the US has spent a lot of time and money developing.

11 points by rch 6y ago

zalkota 6y ago

Cool? They’ll never use them

NotSammyHagar 6y ago
We hope. To me the worry is less time to consider false notices of attacks. Any attack will be met by devastating counter attacks so there should never be a consideration that any notice is a real attack. There are many almost launches where there was false notice (the moon reflects radar, etc).
- sgillen 6y ago
  Definitely, I worry about this a lot. I do wonder about some of the close call stories that are out there. It seems like in its in Russia’s best interest to project an image that they are willing to launch without hesitation. So I wonder if any of the stories of “two officers wanted to launch and only the third saved us all” stories are propaganda. I don’t have any evidence of this, and I definitely don’t want to play down the risk of nuclear war.

christefano 6y ago

Had to look up “hypersonic,” so consider this back of the envelope math from an interested amateur. Hypersonic is the term used for speeds over Mach 5. Mach 1 is equal to the speed of sound, however the speed of sound varies at different elevation. Sound travels slower in mediums that are less dense, so the higher you go in elevation the slower Mach is. Mach 5 is about 6,125km/h (3,805.9mph) at sea level, and about 5,339 km/h (3,317.5mph) at 35,000ft, which makes is where you’ll see lots of commercial airliners. Source: https://www.quora.com/How-fast-is-mach-5-speed?share=1 https://www.quora.com/How-fast-is-mach-5-speed?share=1

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perl4ever 6y ago

Nuclear missiles are normally hypersonic, so it seems like the difference is that these are cruise missiles and not ballistic missiles?

dragonwriter 6y ago
> Nuclear missiles are normally hypersonic, Ballistic missiles usually are, cruise missiles usually are not; both can be nuclear (or not). > so it seems like the difference is that these are cruise missiles and not ballistic missiles? The combination of nuclear, hypersonic, and cruise is what is significant, yes.
- alecmg 6y ago
  Add to combination use of atmospheric oxygen to make it really significant and a technological breakthrough. Its relatively easy to build a rocket carrying both fuel and oxygen and make it go hypersonic. Using oxidiser from air gives it unique range and maneuverability capabilities.
jjk166 6y ago
They are referring to hypersonic glide vehicles here. Whereas conventional warheads follow a ballistic trajectory that can be predicted while in transit, hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) can at least to a limited extent maneuver. HGVs also tend to fly on a lower trajectory than ballistic warheads, meaning they are more difficult to detect by radar. These two factors make HGVs good at getting past current anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems like those the US has spent a lot of time and money developing.