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| An aerospace engineer explains how hypersonic missiles work (Page 1/1) |
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blackrams
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APR 17, 10:04 PM
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An aerospace engineer explains how hypersonic missiles work
https://www.msn.com/en-us/n...49a18e00b62f7882b714
Russia used a hypersonic missile against a Ukrainian arms depot in the western part of the country on March 18, 2022. That might sound scary, but the technology the Russians used is not particularly advanced. However, next-generation hypersonic missiles that Russia, China, and the U.S. are developing do pose a significant threat to national and global security.
I am an aerospace engineer who studies space and defense systems, including hypersonic systems. These new systems pose an important challenge due to their maneuverability all along their trajectory. Because their flight paths can change as they travel, these missiles must be tracked throughout their flight.
A second important challenge stems from the fact that they operate in a different region of the atmosphere from other existing threats. The new hypersonic weapons fly much higher than slower subsonic missiles but much lower than intercontinental ballistic missiles. The U.S. and its allies do not have good tracking coverage for this in-between region, nor does Russia or China.
Destabilizing effect
Russia has claimed that some of its hypersonic weapons can carry a nuclear warhead. This statement alone is a cause for concern whether or not it is true. If Russia ever operates this system against an enemy, that country would have to decide the probability of the weapon being conventional or nuclear.
In the case of the U.S., if the determination were made that the weapon was nuclear, then there is a very high likelihood that the U.S. would consider this a first strike attack and respond by unloading its nuclear weapons on Russia. The hypersonic speed of these weapons increases the precariousness of the situation because the time for any last-minute diplomatic resolution would be severely reduced.
It is the destabilizing influence that modern hypersonic missiles represent that is perhaps the greatest risk they pose. I believe the U.S. and its allies should rapidly field their own hypersonic weapons to bring other nations such as Russia and China to the negotiating table to develop a diplomatic approach to managing these weapons.
What is hypersonic?
Describing a vehicle as hypersonic means that it flies much faster than the speed of sound, which is 761 miles per hour (1,225 kilometers per hour) at sea level and 663 mph (1,067 kph) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) where passenger jets fly. Passenger jets travel at just under 600 mph (966 kph), whereas hypersonic systems operate at speeds of 3,500 mph (5,633 kph)—about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) per second—and higher.
Hypersonic systems have been in use for decades. In 1962, when John Glenn returned from the first U.S. crewed flight around the Earth, his capsule entered the atmosphere at hypersonic speed. All of the intercontinental ballistic missiles in the world’s nuclear arsenals are hypersonic, reaching about 15,000 mph (24,140 kph), or about 4 miles (6.4 km) per second at their maximum velocity.
ICBMs are launched on large rockets and then fly on a predictable trajectory that takes them out of the atmosphere into space and then back into the atmosphere again. The new generation of hypersonic missiles fly very fast, but not as fast as ICBMs. They are launched on smaller rockets that keep them within the upper reaches of the atmosphere.
Three types of hypersonic missiles
There are three different types of non-ICBM hypersonic weapons: aeroballistic, glide vehicles, and cruise missiles. A hypersonic aeroballistic system is dropped from an aircraft, accelerated to hypersonic speed using a rocket, and then follows a ballistic, meaning unpowered, trajectory. The system Russian forces used to attack Ukraine, the Kinzhal, is an aeroballistic missile. The technology has been around since about 1980.
A hypersonic glide vehicle is boosted on a rocket to high altitude and then glides to its target, maneuvering along the way. Examples of hypersonic glide vehicles include China’s Dongfeng-17, Russia’s Avangard and the U.S. Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike system. U.S. officials have expressed concern that China’s hypersonic glide vehicle technology is further advanced than the U.S. system.
A hypersonic cruise missile is boosted by a rocket to hypersonic speed and then uses an air-breathing engine called a scramjet to sustain that speed. Because they ingest air into their engines, hypersonic cruise missiles require smaller launch rockets than hypersonic glide vehicles, which means they can cost less and be launched from more places. Hypersonic cruise missiles are under development by China and the U.S. The U.S. reportedly conducted a test flight of a scramjet hypersonic missile in March 2020.
Difficult to defend against
The primary reason nations are developing these next-generation hypersonic weapons is how difficult they are to defend against due to their speed, maneuverability, and flight path. The U.S. is starting to develop a layered approach to defending against hypersonic weapons that includes a constellation of sensors in space and close cooperation with key allies. This approach is likely to be very expensive and take many years to implement.
With all of this activity on hypersonic weapons and defending against them, it is important to assess the threat they pose to national security. Hypersonic missiles with conventional, nonnuclear warheads are primarily useful against high-value targets, such as an aircraft carrier. Being able to take out such a target could have a significant impact on the outcome of a major conflict.
However, hypersonic missiles are expensive and therefore not likely to be produced in large quantities. As seen in the recent use by Russia, hypersonic weapons are not necessarily a silver bullet that ends a conflict.
Iain Boyd is a professor of aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Brings a whole new perspective to what could be, especially if armed with a nuclear warhead huh..........
Ya might not have time to bend over and kiss yer arse goodbye.
Rams[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 04-18-2022).]
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randye
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APR 18, 01:05 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by blackrams:
Hypersonic cruise missiles are under development by China and the U.S. The U.S. reportedly conducted a test flight of a scramjet hypersonic missile in March 2020.
Iain Boyd is a professor of aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
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One of the biggest problems with young engineers and engineers that spend their entire careers inside academia is that they continually want to "reinvent the wheel".
They do that because, like in this case, they are generally out of touch with and unaware of real world commercial and military aerospace engineering and history.
The United States Air Force first fielded one of many subsequent operational ramjet / scramjet hypersonic cruise missiles in 1959.
The first was the Boeing CIM-10 "BOMARC" (IM-99), which remained in service until 1972
The missile flew at Mach 2.5 with a range of 250 miles and carried either a conventional high-explosive or a 10 kiloton W-40 nuclear fission warhead.
The United States is not now, nor have we ever been, behind any potential adversary in hypersonic missile technology. That includes hypersonic missile countermeasures technology.[This message has been edited by randye (edited 04-18-2022).]
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blackrams
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APR 18, 06:29 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by randye:
The United States is not now, nor have we ever been, behind any potential adversary in hypersonic missile technology. That includes hypersonic missile countermeasures technology.
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In this area, I have absolutely no idea. My hypersonic helicopter is still on the drawing board. 
Rams
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randye
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APR 18, 08:16 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by blackrams:
In this area, I have absolutely no idea. My hypersonic helicopter is still on the drawing board.
Rams |
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I am a bit nostalgic about the fact that I was part of the last generation of aerospace engineers that actually worked exclusively on a drawing board before I became part of the first generation of aerospace engineers that worked exclusively on a CAD terminal.
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Notorio
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APR 19, 04:48 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by randye:
The United States is not now, nor have we ever been, behind any potential adversary in hypersonic missile technology. That includes hypersonic missile countermeasures technology.
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In the early 70s, living near the abandoned Nike Missile Base in Mountainside, NJ, kids were attracted to the rotting carcass like moths to a night light. There were many expeditions launched to search through the various bunkers and buildings. We never quite worked up the courage to go into the flooded, unlit control rooms, which also risked apprehension by the police, who used to swoop down the concrete driveway without warning, scooping up trespassers. It looks like the 50s-era Nike was a hypersonic surface-to-air missile with a nuclear payload (1,700 mph, 10 Kton).
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Jake_Dragon
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APR 19, 06:01 PM
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maryjane
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APR 20, 07:45 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by randye:
The United States is not now, nor have we ever been, behind any potential adversary in hypersonic missile technology. That includes hypersonic missile countermeasures technology.
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That would be a diabolical Russian conspiracy to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids...[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 04-20-2022).]
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Valkrie9
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APR 20, 08:11 AM
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4 lbs of hypersonic mass, inferred, not explicitly depicted, while travelling on the Concorde.
' It's not flatulence ! It's turbulence !'
A real jet-setter !
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4.1 miles to equalize pressure at 60K ft altitude ![This message has been edited by Valkrie9 (edited 04-20-2022).]
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Valkrie9
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APR 20, 08:42 AM
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Hypersonic, generally refers to projectiles above mach 5.
High altitude launches of hypersonic anti-satellite weapons were successfully carried out in the late '50s.
The idea was to counter, intercept, space launched nuke missiles.
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Notorio
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APR 20, 06:04 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by maryjane:
That would be a diabolical Russian conspiracy to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids...
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Ah, the great Stanley Kubrick's, Dr. Strangelove, my personal favorite of his. Peter Sellers as two THREE main characters, Sterling Hayden as the misguided mastermind. And what a send-up of the military-political mindset during the Cold War. Together with Seller's Hollywood send-up, The Party, they would make an excellent double feature.[This message has been edited by Notorio (edited 04-20-2022).]
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