Can the U.S. Stop Russian and Chinese Hypersonic Missiles?

Russia and China have taken a lead over the U.S. with hypersonic missiles and now threaten not on the U.S. mainland but also significant assets like its aircraft carriers. The U.S. is now in a race to catch up, not only with its own hypersonic missiles but also a method to try and stop the so-called unstoppable missiles. So in this video, we look at how they could do this and some of the problems that the use of hypersonic missiles presents.

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Written, Researched and Presented by Paul Shillito

Images and footage : Northrop Grumman, US DoD, US Navy, CCTV, Russian Defense Ministry

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[AinsleyHarriott]

"This is the man that puts the hype in hypersonic" was one of the hardest introductions I've ever heard.

[wompstopm]

at 27 times the speed of sound you could deliver a dominoes pizza anywhere on earth in under 30 minutes

[randydewees]

Paul, I always enjoy your presentations. For subjects I know something about (lasers, not hypersonic missiles) I think you get it right and I usually learn somethings new. In this one you did cover using laser weapons as a countermeasure to hypervelocity missiles. You did mention some of the important caveats, but I think you come across as wildly optimistic (from my viewpoint) about future developments. My life, for better or worse, has been one long involvement in this field. I'm pessimistic about many aspects of laser weapon development to the degree that it would be effective against hypersonic missiles. I do think there are some important roles such weapons can take on, even at the sub 100KW level, such as ordinary antiship missiles, speedboat and drone attacks. So, I will discuss some of my misgivings below.

At the speed of a hypersonic missile there will only be a second or two for the laser spot to do anything. With a megawatt that is enough time, it seems, to do some kind of mission kill - that would probably from some kind of damage to the skin that tears the missile apart from aerodynamic forces. The notion that lasers work at the speed of light, this is a huge simplification of the problem. The tracking requirement, after finding the target, is literally microradians aim point maintenance for targets moving at many degrees per second. Doing this on slow moving targets is hard enough. Extrapolating from the LAWS and MLD devices whacking on soft slow moving targets to hypervelocity missiles is fantasy.

Unless you work in this field you have no idea how atmosphere limited laser weapons are. What might be effective at 6km can be completely ineffective at 8km. Weather is a huge factor in all of this and obviously an attacker would take it into consideration.

And finally, no, the magazine is not limitless. You mentioned thermal management, that is only one controlling issue. Another is internal damage caused by the very operation of the high power laser. A short MTTF is a reality in these systems, just like any extreme system. Ultra high power, e.g. 1 MW, is a place that just gives me the willies. What will the total operating time be? I don't know but from my experience I wouldn't be surprised if it is in hours, if not minutes. No doubt there will be internal systems to detect and shut down the laser before something really bad happens, something that might completely destroy every nearby optic. But that will be a moot point if the laser doesn't stop the missile.

If you have the time, I think you'd find exploring the limitations and advantages of laser weapon systems fascinating. And I think you could explain it in 15 minutes!

[skywalkerranch]

Excellent video, man. Keep up the good work as it is much appreciated.

[markbeiser]

Since they don't actually have much in the way of terminal guidance, it sounds like a very effective defense against them is to not be sitting still in the same spot you were in when it is launched.

[dziban]

Techno Varys back with another military tech video

[frankgulla]

Paul,
thanks for this very informative video about Hypersonic weapons and possible defenses.

[giovafra]

Very well done!
Simple explanations for a total comprehension. Thanks Paul.

[thenegociater]

Pretty large error at 8:22 The DZ ZF is not a hypersonic scramjet cruise missile, it is a hypersonic glide vehicle boosted to speed by a ballistic missile.

[MrGaborseres]

I'm looking forward to every video you come out with 🙂
Thanks

[matthewszabo]

Always enjoy your videos. Thank you for another awesome one.

[chrissartain]

Always great videos but todays video is off the charts. Love the ballistic charts that visually explain with your verbal is over the top!!

[dougsinthailand]

I have to wonder if these things are as phenomenally maneuverable as advertised. Because physics.

[FlywithMagnar]

A hypersonic missile will slow down as it descends into thicker air. Won't it?

[kevingendron]

Excellent, informative, and beautifully presented!

[NemeanLion-]

The US probably can’t stop hypersonic missiles at this point, but the real question is how full of baloney is Russia and China when it comes to their capabilities.

[jimcabezola]

Enjoying your content! It’s so thought-provoking!

[timoworldwide]

Thanks man. Your videos and passion is so great. Also you as a person as it seemed to me. Cheers, Greatings, Respekt and thank you

[devamjani]

One correction,
Brahmos 2 is NOT an export version of zircon. It is a completely separate class of missiles and has nothing to do with zircon. Brahmos missiles are produced under a joint venture by India and Russia and they are already the best. Brahmos is the fastest supersonic cruise missile in the world and is highly menuvarable and weighs twice as much as a tomahawk missile at 3 tons. Brahmos 2 is planned to be its hypersonic successor. India and Russia both have hypersonic technology and also have scramjet technology. India even plans to make a RLV which has both Ramjet and Scramjet engines.

[SuLokify]

Plasma ablation is a pain in the ass too, the tougher a material is (chemically) the more destructive it tends to be as a plasma