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Military Technology - radind - 05-24-2016
Delaying hypersonic weapon development could be costly.
Quote:http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/lists/posts/post.aspx?ID=2187
… "The U.S. Air Force has no immediate plans to conduct hypersonic vehicle flight tests, the service's chief scientist said May 17.
Greg Zacharias said he "was not aware" of any set dates for a U.S. hypersonic flight test.
Russia and China both conducted hypersonic missile flight tests in April, according to the Washington Free Beacon. There were at least five Chinese flights between 2014 and 2015, according to a 2016 Mitchell Institute report, Hypersonic Weapons and U.S. National Security.”…
RE: Military Technology - Tim Randal Walker - 05-14-2021
There are a number of online articles regarding the Zumwalt class stealth warships.
It seems that the U.S. Navy plans to equip these with hypersonic missiles.
RE: Military Technology - pbrower2a - 05-15-2021
(05-24-2016, 11:39 AM)radind Wrote: Delaying hypersonic weapon development could be costly.
Quote:http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/lists/posts/post.aspx?ID=2187
… "The U.S. Air Force has no immediate plans to conduct hypersonic vehicle flight tests, the service's chief scientist said May 17.
Greg Zacharias said he "was not aware" of any set dates for a U.S. hypersonic flight test.
Russia and China both conducted hypersonic missile flight tests in April, according to the Washington Free Beacon. There were at least five Chinese flights between 2014 and 2015, according to a 2016 Mitchell Institute report, Hypersonic Weapons and U.S. National Security.”…
Do you remember Antonio Prohias' Spy vs. Spy cartoons from MAD Magazine? That is almost how it is with military technologies. One side builds them and the other does what is necessary to thwart them. Prohias was onto something.
RE: Military Technology - David Horn - 05-15-2021
(05-14-2021, 03:20 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: There are a number of online articles regarding the Zumwalt class stealth warships.
It seems that the U.S. Navy plans to equip these with hypersonic missiles.
I agree. We have huge test areas in the desert southwest, and it's hard to know what is going on there. Plus, our ability to test by computer analysis makes most testing only necessary to confirm what we've already done. I also suspect that we've set the bar high. Low-end hypersonic weapons aren't worth much if your enemy has much higher velocity versions. And high power lasers are being developed too. Nothing can out-fly a beam of light, which makes them vulnerable to laser defense systems if they can be identified and the response brought to bear fast enough. I suspect that mach10+ is the lower boundary to escape destruction when light-based defenses finally come on line.
RE: Military Technology - Tim Randal Walker - 06-07-2021
Mach (pronounced "mock" in American English and "mack" in British English, I believe) number is used to describe the speed of a supersonic aircraft. Mach 1 is the speed of sound, Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound, and so on. Hypersonic is the term applied to Mach 5 and above.
Other than astronauts (who were basically riding ballistic missiles) the fastest speed attained by a human was Mach 6.72 in the X-15 rocket plane. The fastest operational aircraft was the SR-71 spy plane, the fastest acknowledged speed being Mach 3.2. It has been rumored that there may be a successor spy plane reaching perhaps Mach 6, possibly a drone-I cannot confirm.
Governments know when a spy satellite will be overhead, so they may periodically attempt to hide their activities. But that may not work if a super fast spy plane makes an unannouced visit.
RE: Military Technology - Tim Randal Walker - 06-07-2021
I see a figure of Mach 17 for the missiles that the U.S. Navy plans to deploy. Would be defenders would have little warning and very little time to react.
RE: Military Technology - David Horn - 06-08-2021
(06-07-2021, 08:13 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: I see a figure of Mach 17 for the missiles that the U.S. Navy plans to deploy. Would be defenders would have little warning and very little time to react.
Another instance of not being first, just best. Mach 17 is roughly 13,000 MPH. In other words, any point on earth can be reached from any other point in less than 1 hour. Most uses will be over much shorter distances, assuming they are used of course.
RE: Military Technology - pbrower2a - 06-08-2021
(06-07-2021, 08:07 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: Mach (pronounced "mock" in American English and "mack" in British English, I believe) number is used to describe the speed of a supersonic aircraft. Mach 1 is the speed of sound, Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound, and so on. Hypersonic is the term applied to Mach 5 and above.
Other than astronauts (who were basically riding ballistic missiles) the fastest speed attained by a human was Mach 6.72 in the X-15 rocket plane. The fastest operational aircraft was the SR-71 spy plane, the fastest acknowledged speed being Mach 3.2. It has been rumored that there may be a successor spy plane reaching perhaps Mach 6, possibly a drone-I cannot confirm.
Governments know when a spy satellite will be overhead, so they may periodically attempt to hide their activities. But that may not work if a super fast spy plane makes an unannouced visit.
The trick could be a race in miniaturization and maximal thrust. Geosynchronous orbit would be perfect for sustained monitoring of a suspicious location... let us say a missile-testing site. That is also the first thing that would go down in a space war as an obvious target. Considering that much of today's communications are effectively satellite communications (if you get your broadcast TV from -- a PBS channel in Detroit on WTVS, then WTVS still gets its programming from a satellite feed of PBS material. Knock out the PBS feed, and WTVS must rely upon reruns. That's fine with Sesame Street, but not with news programs.
Communications from the USA, except from such entities as FoX Propaganda Channel, are comparatively innocuous. But figure that America could end up in a war against a tyrannical regime committing active genocide. Imagine that you are President of the United States, and you can order a missile to destroy some geosynchronous "bird" that offers an unrelenting stream of hate messages toward the pariahs of that regimes and warns that the US Army will be an army of robbers and rapists. Obviously you want that shut down. So you give orders to destroy that "bird" and replace its signals with yours or those of your allies.
To confound an army by disrupting its command is as much to defeat it as is to occupy territory.
RE: Military Technology - David Horn - 06-12-2021
I guess we should mention the soon-to-be B-21 heavy bomber. At least this one is better managed than the disasterous F-35 program.
RE: Military Technology - Tim Randal Walker - 06-12-2021
Regarding hypersonic missiles.....
I don't know how much a Mach 17 missile costs per missile. My suspicion is that it will be too expensive for regular use. But I can see it have a niche as a deterrent. Something that can inflict a very nasty sting by destroying military assets or infrastructure deep within the interior of a country. Not a weapon of mass destruction-nukes are the weapon of last resort-but able to inflict significant pain with very little warning.
An analogy that comes to mind are stinging insects, such as wasps, hornets, bees. One takes care not to agitate such.
RE: Military Technology - Tim Randal Walker - 06-14-2021
Hard to get details regarding new missile projects, it is just as easy to summarize meager information in a paragraph as it is to post a link.
Mentioned in passing regarding SPEAR (Supersonic Propulsion Enabled Advanced Ramjet) project for U.S Navy.....
A missile with a ramjet engine, to be carried by an F-18 fighter, or possibly the F-35. According to Wikipedia, ramjets have the potential of reaching up to Mach 6 (low hypersonic), and have been used on missiles in the past.