(Washington, D.C.) Amid all the talk of danger and ominous warnings…. hold on for a second. There may be several emerging ways to actually track and destroy hypersonic weapons. Could that be realistic, knowing the speed, maneuverability and potential destruction associated with hypersonic missiles able to travel at five times the speed of sound?
Responding to the seriousness of the existing Russian and Chinese hypersonic threat, the US Missile Defense Agency has presented a challenge to industry to develop a multi-layered defensive concept.
Hypersonic Defense Challenge
“China continues in pursuit of advanced weapon systems with really novel attributes and capabilities, such as a hypersonic weapons dual use capability that transcends the formal and normative delineations between domains,” Adm. Charles “Chas” Richard, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said recently at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium, Huntsville, Ala.
The aim is to “see,” “find,” “track,” and ultimately “destroy” a new generation of approaching hypersonic glide vehicles across air, land and sea, as cited by Richard. The challenge is as cutting edge as it is serious. The hope is that an operational hypersonic defense will emerge in the immediate future, given the urgent nature of the threat, and the fact that there is, at least at the moment, no known solution.
“The emergence of numerous more maneuverable threats, such as hypersonic glide vehicles are evading the ability of our ground based radar networks. They present challenges to our missile defense capabilities, and there’s presently no way to counter these threats,” Mike Ciffone, director, Strategy, Capture & Operations, OPIR & Geospatial Systems, Northrop Grumman, told reports at the SMD Symposium.
HBTSS (Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor Program)
One program showing promise is ongoing Missile Defense Agency work with industry to engineer new satellites and payloads capable of establishing and “sustaining” a target track on seemingly unstoppable or elusive hypersonic attacks.
It’s called HBTSS, for Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program, an emerging satellite program intended to follow maneuvering hypersonic glide vehicles which do not follow the well-known “parabolic” curve trajectory of ballistic missiles.
