> A 45 degree turn by a fighter jet might mean only a few degrees turned by the sidewinder missile fired from behind. This is true for some "classic" guidance

> A 45 degree turn by a fighter jet might mean only a few degrees turned by the sidewinder missile fired from behind. This is true for some "classic" guidance laws (such as proportional guidance), but is it true for optimal guidance? Especially for point defense? Your "small vs. large turn" becomes an issue of transverse acceleration, and that makes the advantage of the hypersonic vehicle way lower, if not non-existent (since to my knowledge hypersonic lifting bodies don't exactly shine in the lift-to-drag ratio department, so it's far from clear that an interceptor would be unable to match transverse acceleration, and in any case it might be able to force enough velocity loss on the hypersonic vehicle that it may have to work way harder to hit the target even if it's not actually hit by the interceptor at all).