Hypersonic arms: The technology that will change everything

The Ministry of Defence is to speed up its acquisition of hypersonic weapons with plans to spend £1 billion over seven years on a “framework” deal with aerospace companies.

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[andrewsmith-jfou]

CORRECTION ON WHAT HE SAID: The space shuttle Columbia disaster was caused by a hole in the heat-resistant panels that protected the wing from the high temperatures of re-entry. The hole allowed superheated air into the wing, which was destroyed, sending the shuttle spinning out of control before it broke apart. The damage was caused by a piece of fuel tank debris that damaged the heat shield during launch. The disaster resulted in the death of seven astronauts. So it was a puncture caused by debris at launch NOT a failure of the heat shield per se.

[bakedbean]

I reckon the future looks set to be more akin to The Flintstones than The Jetsons.

[liamnorth]

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all get along and spend the money on renewable technology and medical research instead? Maybe one day...

[pjhgerlach]

Newton's third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

[craigkdillon]

Hypersonics will NOT change war fundamentally.
1. Everyone will have them.
2. Counter missiles and energy weapons are under development and soon to be in production.
3. Hypersonic missiles are very expensive. Most countries won't be able to afford many.
4. IMO, stealth is the better way to design a missile that will get through enemy defenses.
This is hype.
Dynamite, machine guns, and nuclear weapons were all supposed to be so devastating they would end all wars.
Fun fact - they didn't.

[adamwalton]

I don't understand how they can commercialise this (still theoretical) technology when Concorde was not financially successful.

[tonywoodham]

Powered hypersonic flight!! What other type of hypersonic flight is there? Just asking..

[eanjamesmogg]

Any Hypersonic missile can be shot down with any ground to air missile and even better with CIWU Systems all you have to do is change the parameters of missile intercept, as been shown with Patreon Missile system shooting hypersonic missiles down in Ukraine! Actually they are easier to shoot down as they can't turn out the way for incoming missiles or bullets especially bullets from Phalanx systems which put up a curtain of bullets,

[bredemeijer]

Those missiles aren't the future.

[rbstevns]

That’s cute that PutinA thinks his ships won’t be targeted by Ukraine in the Black Sea, Harpoon and Trident can sink ships just like the Moscow lol 😂 😎