Weaponized and Overhyped: Hypersonic Technology
Cruise missiles and boost gliders that can travel faster than five times the speed of sound without revealing their target until the very last moment have become a reality. While hypersonic weapon systems are on their way to change the strategic stability parameters by the middle of this decade, the magnitude of their disruptive effect remains a known unknown, argues Dominika Kunertova in this CSS Analysis.
Hypersonic weapon systems appear to be a game-changer in a not-so-distant future. They may become a transformative strategic capability introducing a qualitatively new way of overcoming air and missile defenses, bringing an element of surprise and uncertainty, and compressing the response time within the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop. Thanks to their speed, conventional or nuclear capability, and target ambiguity, hypersonic weapons have the potential to undermine nuclear deterrence postures and create cracks in strategic stability.