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Hypersonic missiles: Speed is the new stealth
- JoeAltmaier 13y agoWhat? "Cannot be mistaken for a nuclear missile". Just because they fly differently from traditional ICBMs doesn't mean anyone with an ounce of sense will conclude "Must not have a nuke on board".
- adamtj 13y agoPerhaps they're harder to detect? They won't fly as high as ballistic missiles, so they'll stay below the horizon of ground-based detectors. They may also generate less of a heat signature at launch so they may be less visible to satellites. Or, maybe the fact that they aren't ballistic and are steerable means it will be easier for satellites to figure out their course and that they aren't a threat. I'm just speculating.
- _delirium 13y agoThere seems to be a kind of informal agreement (somewhat backed up by the arms-reduction treaties) that the major nuclear powers won't secretly introduce new nuclear delivery mechanisms, so therefore you can safely (if you put trust in this) assume that things not fitting into the known US/USSR/Chinese/etc. nuclear delivery methods aren't delivering nuclear weapons. Put differently, ICBMs officially can be nuclear weapons, and so basically can't be used for delivering conventional ordinance by the major powers, even where they would technically be a good choice.
- Gravityloss 13y agoI wonder how hard it really is? Lockheed X-7A3, a ramjet demonstrator flew at mach 4.5 in the fifties already, and ASALM flew at mach 5.5 around 1980 before cancellation in favor of subsonic cruise missiles. http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-60.html http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-60.html http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/asalm.html http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/asalm.html