This is one of the more annoying things when talking to Russophiles that believe that Russia has a huge upper hand on hypersonic missile technology. What Russia

This is one of the more annoying things when talking to Russophiles that believe that Russia has a huge upper hand on hypersonic missile technology. What Russia is currently fielding is basically an air dropped ballistic missile. They don't have hypersonic gliding and they can't do avoidance maneuvers; they travel hypersonic...but so does every ballistic missile. They travel in an arc before reaching their target which is how the Patriot defense system has been able to intercept them. By the US goal for such technology, Russia's does not meet the criteria where we'd call designate it differently than a ballistic missile with a lower glide path and maneuvering to avoid defenses. I do think that some of the Russian upper echelon actually believed what they were touting, but in a military environment where being a "yes man" serves you better (both for your career and possibly to avoid jail/punishment), you often exaggerate capabilities to get ahead, or just lie about current status which we're seeing play out in Ukraine. The US also just avoided such tech in the past because it's so expensive, and stealth has just been better. That might change soon, but overwhelming with hundreds of missiles (and decoys) is currently much cheaper and more effective than using what the US would actually define as a "hypersonic missile." You could fire 50-100 missiles for the price of one true "hypersonic" one, and what if that missile fails? You just wasted $80M-$100M for nothing. Meanwhile a cruise/normal missile costs $1.5-5M. The US will eventually have them in their arsenal, but they will mostly never be used.