{"id":3411,"date":"2018-11-01T08:03:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T11:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nachodelatorre.com.ar\/mosconi\/?p=3411"},"modified":"2018-11-01T08:03:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T11:03:57","slug":"armas-hipersonicas-existira-defensa-contra-ellas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=3411","title":{"rendered":"Armas hipers\u00f3nicas: \u00bfexistir\u00e1 defensa contra ellas?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/u><\/b>El desarrollo de Armas Hipers\u00f3nicas plantea \u00a0grandes\u00a0 desaf\u00edos a los Sistemas de Defensa A\u00e9rea convencionales en servicio, a\u00fan los m\u00e1s modernos, que resultar\u00edan ineficaces para neutralizar estas amenazas de extraordinaria velocidad \u00a0y trayectoria impredecible. Las grandes potencias, EUA, Rusia y China, avanzan aceleradamente y en el mayor de los secretos, con sus respectivos programas de desarrollo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"But just what is a hypersonic weapon in the modern sense? \u2018Hypersonic\u2019 as a speed is defined as travelling at Mach 5 or above, but aircraft have been flying at hypersonic speeds for over 50 years, and many international militaries have had access to inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology since the 1960s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about hypersonic weapons today we are referring to two specific types,\u201d explains George Nacouzi, senior engineer at research and analysis organisation RAND, \u201cnamely, hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV) and hypersonic cruise missiles (HCM). HGV are launched on a missile and released at high altitudes \u2013 about 40km or higher. Their initial speed and altitude allows them to maintain hypersonic speeds \u2013 they are not powered \u2013 while \u2018gliding\u2019 on top of the atmosphere to their target. They can manoeuvre during their trajectory making it difficult to predict their future location. HCM are cruise missiles that reach hypersonic speeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

An unstoppable force: bypassing defences with hypersonic weapons<\/strong><\/p>\n

Details of who currently has access to hypersonic weaponry are somewhat hazy due to the highly classified nature of the technology, but China, Russia and the US are all known to be developing prototypes in the area, with France also looking into developing hypersonic capabilities to underline its next-generation nuclear deterrent.<\/p>\n

\u201cNews reports have indicated that China, and maybe Russia, may already be deploying, or will be soon, a hypersonic weapon,\u201d says Nacouzi. \u201cThe US does not have any operational hypersonic weapons yet, but appears to have fast-tracked the development of these weapons. Several other countries have been researching hypersonic systems but many claim that they are only for civilian use.\u201d<\/p>\n

To see why these countries are interested in hypersonic weapon development, you only need look into the potential of hypersonics to bypass traditional missile defence systems. The overarching opinion is that current-generation point defence weaponry is entirely incapable of intercepting a hypersonic missile or glide vehicle.<\/p>\n

Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) research fellow Justin Bronk explains that ballistic defence systems rely on the fact that the missiles, by their nature, follow a ballistic and therefore predictable trajectory. \u201cOnce you introduce a hypersonic glide vehicle-type payload, it becomes capable of changing direction quite significantly, and changing its flight path,\u201d he adds. \u201cYou\u2019re then looking at something that no longer follows a predictable path.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should also be mentioned though that apart from the unproven ground-based interceptor (GBI) system that is being developed at vast expense in the US, there is currently no capability to intercept even standard ICBMs, which is basically just a factor of the fact that they come in so fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bronk points out that in the US at least, current ICBM missile defence is focused on shooting down one or two ICBMs from a rogue nation such as North Korea or Iran, and US GBI systems would be incapable of defending against the scale of Russia or China\u2019s strategic arsenals.<\/p>\n

Destructive capability: hypersonic weapons\u2019 kinetic potential<\/strong><\/p>\n

The pure destructive capability of these weapons must also be considered. Nuclear payloads can be placed on hypersonic missiles, meaning several countries will have access to nuclear arsenals that can easily bypass defence systems. But even if missiles don\u2019t have a payload, the kinetic energy released on impact makes hypersonic weapons extremely destructive.<\/p>\n

This makes them particularly dangerous to ships, says Bronk. \u201cIf you had a hypersonic missile directly hit a stern or a bow, then it goes straight through the ship. The Chinese DF-21D is designed basically as a carrier killer. Even without a warhead, if it were to come in at significantly above Mach 5 and manage to hit the deck of a supercarrier \u2013 it might not sink it, but it would certainly be a mission kill.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is not to say that hypersonic weapons have currently such a capability; targeting something as specific as a carrier is exceptionally complex, and much of the challenge of hypersonic missile development comes with actually controlling cruise missiles well enough to manage a sufficient degree of accuracy.<\/p>\n

With hypersonic anti-ship missiles, for example, the heat difference between the top and bottom of the missile is so intense that the body actually changes shape in-flight. This subtle difference makes aerodynamic targeting incredibly difficult, and is one of the intricate, expensive challenges the US, Russia and China are trying to overcome.<\/p>\n

Changing the game: hypersonic potential<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hypersonic weapon advancements have the potential to shake up the balance of power in aerial combat and warfare. According to Bronk there are concerns within the military and defence industries with technology such as advanced anti-stealth aircraft radar that defence is becoming overdeveloped compared to offence.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you were to bring in, for example, hypersonic air-launch cruise missiles as a means of striking ground targets within a heavily defended airspace, you automatically move the balance of power back to favouring\u00a0offence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, if opponents also have access to hypersonic weaponry, it makes the situation much more complex. As Nacouzi puts it, \u201cthese future weapons will make it easier for opponents to successfully attack previously unreachable targets due to defences and range. Both the attack and defence time cycle will be compressed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hypersonics have the capability of significantly change aerial warfare, but it\u2019s unlikely this scenario will become a reality anytime soon. The extreme expense needed to develop and produce these weapons is a significant barrier to entry for the vast majority of countries around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost countries are still desperately trying to catch up with where the US is, and have programmes focused on that for the next 15 years,\u201d says Bronk. \u201cI think this is one of these areas where there will be such a huge gap. It will remain a\u00a0fairly\u00a0niche capability in terms of countries that can afford to get into the game for a long time to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

And because of the highly classified nature of hypersonic weapon development, barring significant degradation of international relations, we\u2019re unlikely to see any country boasting the operational potential of their hypersonic capability, as giving the game away would inevitably lead to prioritised efforts from rivals in anti-hypersonic-weapon defence research. For now, at least, hypersonics will remain a rich country\u2019s war game.<\/p>\n

Fuente:\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/www.airforce-technology.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

El desarrollo de Armas Hipers\u00f3nicas plantea \u00a0grandes\u00a0 desaf\u00edos a los Sistemas de Defensa A\u00e9rea convencionales en servicio, a\u00fan los m\u00e1s modernos, que resultar\u00edan ineficaces para… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}