US, UK and Australia to develop hypersonic weapons

[Zipperhead99]

Apologies, as this article covered all three of our major allies (US/UK/AUS), I was not sure as to which sub-thread I should post this in. Regardless, once again, Canada has likely been left out by our major allies on this technology because of our lackluster commitment to defence

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americanmilitarynews.com

 

[Kat Stevens]

Apologies, as this article covered all three of our major allies (US/UK/AUS), I was not sure as to which sub-thread I should post this in. Regardless, once again, Canada has likely been left out by our major allies on this technology because of our lackluster commitment to defence

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americanmilitarynews.com

Meanwhile, Canada is "within a few years" of getting a decent rain jacket.

 

[Good2Golf]

Meanwhile, Canada is "within a few years" of getting a decent rain jacket.

Give it time…first rain jackets…then pistols…the other bits and bobs.

 

[Zipperhead99]

Your guys expectations are waaayyy too high!

 

[dimsum]

Meanwhile, Canada is "within a few years" of getting a decent rain jacket.

Hey, a decent rain jacket benefits everyone, while whiz-bang tech stuff benefits the Military Industrial Complex!

 

[Underway]

Is this another thread for complaining about procurement? Or are we gonna talk about cool missiles! starts "Missiles, Missiles, Missiles" chant

Is this a hypersonic cruise missile or is it a hypersonic ballistic missile?

If it's a cruise missile (looks like one and I don't think Oz is interested in ballistic missiles) what I want to know is if the US has solved the sub 50,000 ft problem. Hypersonic missiles normally can't work any better than a supersonic missile below that height because air friction will either destroy them or cause them to be completely unable to run targeting systems (the plasma buildup essentially blinds them).

If they haven't solved that problem then this missile can get to the target area really fast and then has to drop down to supersonic speeds (still very fast) to hit the target. 5x the speed of sound is generally accepted where the barrier between hypersonic and supersonic is. There are modern AAW systems out there that can target and shoot down a supersonic missile.

Using such a fast missile would be a big change from the current NATO philosophy of missiles. Normally our anti ship missiles and cruise missiles go slow and stealthy, whereas China/India/Russia are all about the very fast dare you to shoot me down way.

 

[KevinB]

Is this another thread for complaining about procurement? Or are we gonna talk about cool missiles! starts "Missiles, Missiles, Missiles" chant

Is this a hypersonic cruise missile or is it a hypersonic ballistic missile?

If it's a cruise missile (looks like one and I don't think Oz is interested in ballistic missiles) what I want to know is if the US has solved the sub 50,000 ft problem. Hypersonic missiles normally can't work any better than a supersonic missile below that height because air friction will either destroy them or cause them to be completely unable to run targeting systems (the plasma buildup essentially blinds them).

If they haven't solved that problem then this missile can get to the target area really fast and then has to drop down to supersonic speeds (still very fast) to hit the target. 5x the speed of sound is generally accepted where the barrier between hypersonic and supersonic is. There are modern AAW systems out there that can target and shoot down a supersonic missile.

Using such a fast missile would be a big change from the current NATO philosophy of missiles. Normally our anti ship missiles and cruise missiles go slow and stealthy, whereas China/India/Russia are all about the very fast dare you to shoot me down way.

Just want to point out that THAAD is hypersonic and works sub 50k.

 

[Underway]

Just want to point out that THAAD is hypersonic and works sub 50k.

I know it "works" sub 50k. Does it go hypersonic (+Mk5) sub 50k as a guided projectile or is it only a ballistic course? It's the latter because it's designed to get into space and hit ballistic missiles. Once above 50k it really gets going (less air resistance) and can hunt down its target.

Interestingly THAAD is why China developed hypersonic glide vehicles. They are reentry vehicles for ballistic missiles and can also be hypersonic below 50k but because they are relying on inertial guidance to hit their targets (only need to get within a few km of it).