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Silent supersonic cruise missiles!
by m4rtink 2y ago
Silent supersonic cruise missiles!
- modeless 2y agoDoesn't seem like it would be important for a supersonic missile to be silent since you wouldn't hear it before it hits you regardless.
- ceejayoz 2y agoWhen attacking things the size of country, sensors near the borders can detect the sound of supersonic aircraft and transmit that information at the speed of light to waiting air defense systems. Silence still has some value.
- lupusreal 2y agoDoesn't really make sense to me. For one, it's not silent, just quieter than you'd normally expect from a supersonic aircraft. It's not stealthy; radar will see it. It can't fly low and still be fast, so it can't hide from radar behind terrain. It's much slower than ballistic missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles, etc.
- ceejayoz 2y agoQuiet is good. The B-2 is engineered to be low observability not just in radar cross section, but in infrared, visual, and auditory. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a24484/b-2-stealth-bomber-flyby/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a24484/b-... A high-flying stealth subsonic cruise missile can be as silent as the airliners you see everyday flying silently overhead at 30k feet. Sonic booms are dramatically less stealthy.
- lupusreal 2y agoIf it had a very small radar cross section then it could be an interesting cruise missile, and if it had a robust pressure hull it could be a submarine. It doesn't. This conversation is stupid.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jandrese 2y agoWhat advantage does this have over ICBMs?
- office_drone 2y agoBallistic missiles, being ballistic, have limited accuracy. It's also easier to detect them (flying higher and with larger radar signature) and tell where they're heading.
- dingaling 2y agoNothing about the XB-1 design is optimised for boom reduction. The Overture airliner, with an entirely different configuration, will also only operate supersonically over oceans.