(Washington, D.C.) Hypersonic weapons skipping along the upper boundary of the earth’s atmosphere at five times the speed of sound, ICBMs boosting into space for cross-continental attack and sub-launched ballistic missiles descending from an upward arch before shooting down to a target on earth ….are all attacks that cannot be stopped unless they are seen.
An infrared space sensor can find the heat signature of an enemy missile launch, ground-based interceptors can be guided to take out an approaching ICBM in space, and threat information can be sent to ground command centers giving senior leaders an opportunity to make decisions under attack … but does this happen fast enough?
The threat equation has totally changed, prompting the Pentagon to fast-track technologies able to detect, track, and destroy an entirely new generation of weapons.
“Sensing” Hypersonic Weapons
The problem is so urgent, in part given the pace at which Russia and China continue to test hypersonic weapons and massively increase their respective nuclear arsenals, that Vice Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. John Hyten referred to continuous global threat “sensing” as his number one most sought after technology.
“We have to see something before it comes, so I’d like one capability that will allow us to see these threats globally at any time. We can build a space architecture that can see different threats such as hypersonics, cruise missiles .. and identify what those threats are,” Gen. John Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience at the 2021 Space and Missile Defense Symposium, Huntsville Ala.
Interestingly, Hyten explained this upon being asked which one technology, if he had to pick one, would he most wish for prior to his planned retirement.
Will Hyten’s wish be granted? It may be too early to tell, but industry is now doing a lot of accelerated work to deliver this capability. Hyten did say there are ongoing Space Force and Missile Defense Agency programs now working to address this challenge.
