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Australia, UK, U.S. alliance to develop hypersonic missiles

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By AAMER MADHANI

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We must NOT allow a hypersonic missile gap!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Russia's much hyped hypersonic air launched missile is in reality the 9K720 Iskander surface to surface ballistic missile adapted to be launched from an aircraft. It is equivalent to the US adapting the MGM-140 ATACMS missile to an aircraft. Like any large ballistic missile they are hypersonic. It breaks no new technological ground. It is a solid fueled ballistic missile with very limited maneuverability and can only hit fixed targets.

Two weeks ago the US successfully tested something called HAWC for Hypersonic Air Breathing Concept. It is powered by an air breathing scramjet. It does not need to fly a ballistic profile and is not a glider launched from a ballistic missile that can maneuver but is unpowered. HAWC can achieve hypersonic speeds in level flight in the atmosphere at much lower altitudes than these other systems, making it much harder to track and engage. HAWC in fact dispenses with a warhead entirely and will rely on transferring its considerable kinetic energy ( mass times the square of its speed ) to the target to destroy it. Basically if you hit something hard enough it will be destroyed by the energy imparted on it, even without a high explosive warhead.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Australia and the US are the only two nations to have successfully test flown scramjets so the pairing makes sense. They are the leaders in this technology.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Australia, UK, US alliance to develop hypersonic missiles:

After starting to build more nuclear submarines, AUKUS allies are mulling to make hypersonic missiles more lethal than those of China & Russia. So, that is what AUKUS was meant for.

Next weapon in the pipeline? What..?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Australia fist sucessfully flew a scramjet test missile in 2002, so has 20 years of experience with this technology and the US has even more. A good pairing for this project.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

*first.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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