Hypersonic Weapons: Fast & Unpredictable

The term "hypersonic speed" refers to any speed greater than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.

A “hypersonic”weapon needs to be faster than Mach 5 and must be able to make maneuvers (both vertical and horizontal) while traveling at this speed inside the atmosphere.

The fact that these next-generation hypersonic weapons are difficult to defend against due to their speed, maneuverability, and hard to predict flight path is the primary reason nations are developing them.

These next generation missiles with conventional, non-nuclear warheads are most effective against high-value targets like aircraft carriers.

Kinzhal is an aeroballistic system. This means that after being dropped from an aircraft, it accelerates to hypersonic speed using a rocket and then follows a ballistic trajectory.

The DF-ZF, previously known as the Wu-14 as a prototype, is a hypersonic glide vehicle under development for use by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Forces.

AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW ("Arrow"), is expected to be the US military's first operational hypersonic weapon.

The Zircon is a scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile. Unlike hypersonic glide weapons, hypersonic cruise missiles rely on cooled supersonic combustion ramjet engines, which use the flow of air at supersonic speeds, compressed by the forward motion of the missile, to drive combustion.

#hypersonicmissile

Join our YouTube channel by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3asNo2n

Find us on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3PM21xW
Find us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3t2Huvb
Find us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3wQfXzA
Find us on TikTok: https://bit.ly/3wNsBOu

Get the latest stories: https://interestingengineering.com/

Support IE for high-quality journalism: https://interestingengineering.com/su...