The Physics and Hype of Hypersonic Weapons

The Pershing 2, fielded in the 1970s, is an example of what third world countries will be fielding now and in the short term future.

The P2 was a intermediate range ballistic missile that used an imaging radar and hypersonic glide to soak up inaccuracy in the launch position to drop on top of a hard target to destroy it with a small nuclear warhead.

For an IRBM this is a cheap and simple way to improve accuracy, increase range, and confound missile defenses.

China has developed an anti-ship ballistic missile that uses P2 like technology to deal with the inaccurately know position of the target and the possibility that the target could travel several miles when the missile is in flight.

A longer range ICBM with maneuvering is moving faster and would accelerate at 80g as opposed to the 25g of the P2. The material and other issues are a lot more difficult and it’s not so clear it is worth it.