U.S. rushes hypersonic missile development as Russia claims use in Ukraine
Mar. 21, 2022 4:35 AM ET
General Dynamics Corporation (GD)LMT,
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Russia twice deployed its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missile in Ukraine over the weekend, claiming to have hit an underground ammunition depotin Deliatyn on Saturday and a fuel storage site near Mykolaiv on Sunday. Analysts say it marks the first time hypersonic missiles have been used in combat, though there were reports of the weapons being used during campaigns in Syria. China and Russia first began testing hypersonic weapons in 2014 and 2016, respectively, prompting the U.S. to ramp up its testing programs.
What are hypersonic weapons? Missiles in development, like boost-glide missiles and air-breathing missiles, are being designed to evade defense systems while flying at speeds higher than Mach 5. The objective is to travel at such a high velocity and low altitude that make them difficult to intercept, while they can maneuver in-flight compared to the fixed sub-orbital trajectories of ballistic missiles. Some ground-based radars can detect hypersonic weapons, but current systems cannot give an early enough warning to respond to an attack.
Looking to play catch-up, the U.S. is
rushing the development of its own hypersonic arsenal. General Dynamics (NYSE:
GD) subsidiary Bath Iron Works is beginning the engineering and design work needed to retrofit the weapon system on three Zumwalt-class destroyers in fiscal year 2023. The project will continue through 2025, while hypersonics will be added to Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines by 2028.
Outlook:Former acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has said hypersonic weapons "have already changed the nature of the battlespace, much as nuclear technology did in the last century." The Pentagon's FY2022 budget reflected as such, with requests for hypersonic-related research and development pegged at $4B, up from $3.2B a year earlier. "The engineering is not that hard," added Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute. "It'll just take time and money to make it happen."