Prior to holding my present positions, I was Deputy Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and taught graduate-level courses in strategy, technology and media affairs at Georgetown. I focus on the strategic, economic and business implications of defense spending as the Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit Lexington Institute and Chief Executive Officer of Source Associates. Investment Into Hypersonic Missile Defense. Therefore, of course much discussion is underway regarding how best to defend against or stop these kinds of hypersonic missile attacks, in part because they occupy a specific area of the atmosphere which, at least at the moment, can be tough for sensors and missile defense interceptors to reach. Every weapon in modern-day warfare comes with an anti-weapon system. The Pentagon is considering acquiring new interceptors to shoot down enemy hypersonic missiles, the director of the Missile Defense Agency said Feb. 1. Hypersonic Defense 2021 Arlington, VA, USA 08 - 09 June 2021 A new era of ballistic missiles is imminent with a rapid race to develop the latest hypersonic weapons systems. Lockheed Martin, a leader in missile defense technology, says that existing systems for intercepting ballistic threats can be evolved to cope with hypersonic attacks, but the money to do so hasn’t been budgeted, and the sensor constellation needed to track such threats hasn’t progressed much beyond the PowerPoint stage. Ballistic missiles, of course, already approach their targets at hypersonic velocities. In his February 2019 State-of-the-Nation Address to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the work on the Tsirkon hypersonic missile was proceeding as scheduled – and the Russian leader said the missile platform was capable of reaching speeds of about Mach 9 and that its strike range exceeded 1,000 km (600 miles). The combination of speed, maneuverability, and altitude could make tracking and intercepting such hypersonic weapons quite difficult. The earliest trials of the Tsirkon were conducted from coastal platforms while subsequent trials included launches from Russian Air Force modernized Tu-22M3 bombers. Hypersonic weapons steadily are getting better and more numerous and, in the future, could pose a serious threat to U.S. forces. It’s possible the MiG-31Ks and their very fast missiles mostly are for show. The sea-based Tsirkon utilizes a multi-stage launch system, which includes a booster, a solid-propellant booster stage, and a scramjet-powered warhead. Only infrared sensors will work, and the current U.S. overhead architecture isn’t designed to track heat-emitting threats continuously throughout their flight so that an effective defense can be mounted. 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To intercept a conventional ICBM, the U.S. would use one or more of its ground-based midcourse defense missiles: 44 in Alaska, four in California. And that’s just the beginning. The weapons were designed to attack ships as well as ground targets, and Russia’s latest frigates will be armed with the weapons. Hypersonic … Hypersonic missiles are missiles that are capable of maintaining speeds in excess of Mach 5, or around 3,800 miles per hour. Otherwise, defense will be essentially impossible. Even if all these items are fielded expeditiously, hypersonic weapons present a major threat to America’s military dominance in the Western Pacific and elsewhere. Aside from their high velocity—five times the speed of sound or greater—they operate almost entirely within the atmosphere, at elevations below which existing early-warning sensors are optimized to monitor. However, interceptors are useless without sensors that can … Defence against Hypersonic missiles presents a huge challenge to surface ships. "Moscow and Beijing both seek to counter US missile defence systems and are developing respective anti-access/area denial capabilities. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Not only are Russia and China investing in a new generation of weapons aimed at negating America’s huge investment in strategic systems, but their emerging hypersonic weapons will be too maneuverable to make reliable guesses about where they are headed. There is also a pivotal issue to develop hypersonic defence systems to protect against the potential threat. In December the Russian Northern Fleet’s the Project 22350 frigate Admiral of the Soviet Union Fleet Gorshkov successfully conducted a test-launch of a Tsirkon hypersonic missile. Navy Advancing Effort To Arm DDG-1000 With Hypersonic Missiles, Develop Larger VLS Top Navy officials this week explained the next class of destroyers, called DDG(X), will have the energy and space capabilities to field lasers, hypersonic missiles, sophisticated radars, and future upgrades. The U.S. Navy is eyeing a new class of warship to replace its current Arleigh Burke destroyers — ships that can fight by themselves using lasers and hypersonic missiles… Hypersonic weapons such as those being pursued by China and Russia pose a unique challenge to existing U.S. missile defense systems because they are much faster than conventional cruise missiles — flying at speeds of Mach 5 or faster … Hypersonic missiles: President Donald Trump boosts spending to arm US forces with new tech . It was the third test in as many months of the Tsirkon, which has been undergoing test flights since 2015. 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