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This article ignores the primary use case for China and Russia: US carrier battle groups. In this roll, these missiles target the human element in the defensiv
by GartzenDeHaes 6y ago
This article ignores the primary use case for China and Russia: US carrier battle groups. In this roll, these missiles target the human element in the defensive systems by reducing the the time from detection to impact below human response capability. Humans monitor sensors, make decisions, and activate active defense systems. Until these systems are fully automated, hypersonic missiles are a huge advantage for China.
- jvanderbot 6y agoAutomated point defense systems are not a very far leap from the existing PDS systems which auto-acquire and auto-track. The difference, I think, is the effective range.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoExactly. The point of a ballistic missile is that it's ballistic - the trajectory is defined during the launch phase with only limited control during midcourse phase and essentially none during the terminal phase. This is fine if you're delivering a payload against a stationary target with an exact fix, and with a nuclear payload you get to be smart about fuzing to achieve maximum overpressure if your downrange distance isn't quite right. For a target that's less than precisely fixed, and that's maneuvering (which is going to be a case for a carrier battle group), and for a conventional explosive munition, this isn't good enough.