MISSILE DEFENSE
JUST IN: Pentagon Looking at New Interceptor to Defeat Hypersonic Missiles
A Standard Missile (SM) 3 Block IIA is launched from the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii.
Photo: Missile Defense Agency
The Pentagon is considering acquiring new interceptors to shoot down enemy hypersonic missiles, the director of the Missile Defense Agency said Feb. 1.
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 — and are more maneuverable than ballistic missiles that follow a predictable flight path.
Pentagon officials have been sounding the alarm about the emerging threat. It was featured prominently in the Trump administration’s new missile defense review that was released last month, and Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin has said countering hypersonics is one of his top priorities.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, the head of the Missile Defense Agency, said the Pentagon is looking at options.
“The agency … has completed an analysis of alternatives looking at hypersonic defense, of which fast interceptors are part of that solution. They are one option,” he said during a Q&A session at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
The analysis is “essentially assessing the current suite of available interceptors to see if they are fast enough to get to the target and win the tail chase, as you might say,” he added.
The analysis of alternatives is now in final coordination and review within the Defense Department and should be released soon, Greaves said.
“We have worked with industry to assess available interceptors as well as potential new interceptors to execute that mission” of defeating hypersonic missiles, he noted.
Greaves declined to say whether he favors moving forward with developing a new system.
“I will await the results of the analysis of alternatives because it needs to be coordinated and vetted and agreed to within the department,” he said. “If it is determined after that coordinated review that the current suite will not meet the need, the threat is there so we will need to develop something else,” he added.
While new kinetic interceptors are one potential option for thwarting enemy hypersonic missiles, directed energy weapons are another option that is being looked at, he noted.
Topics: Emerging Technologies, Missile Defense
Comments (2)
Too much hype and hysteria! The Sprint missile of the 1960's achieved 100g acceleration and 76oo mph(mach 10) in the lower atmosphere reaching unheard this speed its skin temp of 6200 degrees requiring ablative skin, as 6200 degrees will melt any substance on earth. Such missiles, only 30 ft long deployed at sea in numbers is more than a match for any mach 6 Russian cruise missile. And lets face it folks, sprint was 1960 missile tech, they must be able to do far better nearly 60 years later!
Randall Robello at 4:23 PM
Putin says Russia will deploy hypersonic missiles in 'coming months,' surpassing US and China
CharlieSeattle at 2:48 PMPUBLISHED THU, OCT 18 2018
11:29 AM EDT UPDATED THU, OCT 18 20184:28 PM EDT Amanda Macias
Communist China will be also. Iran, Cuba and North Korea will not be far behind.
...........A dollar short and 10 years late.
The time to DEPLOY defensive measures, NOT CONSIDER DESIGNS, was this year! The USS Ford and all Carrier groups can now be considered targets, not battle groups. The US homeland is wide open to EMP and biological follow up attacks.
BTW, there is only one target in the USA now. Forget the bases and cities. The target Russia already announced is the Yellowstone super volcano.
A Russian 'Doctor of Military Sciences' says Moscow should just nuke Yellowstone if tensions boil over
Amanda Macias Apr 1, 2015, 2:14 PM
Earlier this week, the Russian president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems outlined two geophysically weak US regions to attack in order to combat NATO's aggression toward Russia.
In his article, Konstantin Sivkov justifies the option of "complete destruction of the enemy" because NATO has been "moving to the borders or Russia."
Sivkov, listed as a "Docter of Military Sciences," described scenarios that involved dropping a nuclear weapon near Yellowstone's supervolcano or the San Andreas Fault.