What is a hypersonic missile?

HYPERSONIC weapons travel faster than the speed of sound and are typically able to move between one and five miles per second.

On Friday, March 18, Russian military officials announced the country has used a hypersonic missile in an attack against Ukraine.

What is a hypersonic missile?

A hypersonic missile is a missile that has the ability to travel at five to 25 times the speed of sound.

Because of their intense speed – known as Mach 5 – the missiles are incredibly difficult to control, track and target.

Countries reportedly developing hypersonic missiles include the United States, North Korea, Russia, and China.

Hypersonic missiles prove to be more dangerous than subsonic or supersonic weapons, as no missile defense system is currently known to have the ability to intercept them.

Current developments of hypersonic missiles are said to have the power to travel at Mach 10 speeds and distances of up to 1200 miles.

There are two types of hypersonic missiles: the cruise missile, and the glide vehicle.

What is a cruise missile?

A hypersonic cruise missile is a non-ballistic weapon using a high-speed jet engine with the capacity to exceed Mach 5.

Typically, missiles are ballistic and use gravitational force to reach their intended targets.

What is a glide vehicle?

A hypersonic glide vehicle uses re-entry vehicles to travel through the atmosphere.

The missile is launched into space on an arch, with warheads attached to glide vehicles released at hypersonic speeds.

Reuters

Did the Russian military use a hypersonic missile?

Named Kinzhal – which means dagger in Russian – the hypersonic missile allegedly launched on March 18, 2022, was sent to attack a large underground warehouse, according to Bloomberg News.

The outlet added that the claim from the Russian military has yet to be verified.