-In March, Russia launched a wave of missiles into Ukraine,
killing at least six people and destroying infrastructure.
Massive long-range attacks by Russia
were common at this phase in the war,
and Ukraine had modern air defense systems
designed to detect and shoot down incoming threats.
But these strikes were different and Ukraine's
defenses failed to stop them.
That's because Russia was using hypersonic cruise missiles.
Until May,
Ukrainian officials said they were almost helpless
against these weapons,
and even President Biden acknowledged their power.
-It's almost impossible to stop it.
There's a reason they're using it.
-Russia is using them to introduce more fear
and worry on the part of Ukraine regarding their ability
to defend themselves against Russian missile attacks.
-Hypersonic weapons travel at five times
the speed of sound, Mach 5, or at least 3,800 miles per hour.
For comparison, the US military's latest
supersonic jet fighter,
the F-35C, has a max speed of Mach 1.6.
Weapons like intercontinental ballistic missiles
developed during the Cold War and still in use today
also travel at hypersonic speeds on their descent back to Earth.
So what's changed?
Imagine you're playing one of those missile defense
arcade games from the '80s where you protect cities
by blowing up falling ballistic missiles.
The missiles drop fast and in large groups,
but their course is predictable.
Aim ahead of them and your cities are safe.
But what if one of those missiles
was a modern hypersonic weapon?
The missile can change directions.
Not so easy anymore.
-All the ballistic missiles travel pretty fast, right?
So it's not really just a speed piece.
It's the maneuverability of a hypersonic weapon
that bothers everyone at the table
because you can't predict the end point
by knowing the initial launch conditions.
-China is also building up an arsenal
of long-range hypersonic weapons.
Meanwhile, the US is lagging behind both countries
in hypersonic research.
-Russia and China put the money into the engineering,
whereas the US had not until recently.
-[shouts in Chinese]
-From China's perspective,
they intend to use these hypersonic weapons
against US naval forces and air forces in the Western Pacific
as part of a campaign to coerce or invade Taiwan.
American aircraft carriers patrolling the waters
near Taiwan are particularly valuable targets for China.
Carriers also lack onboard defenses
against hypersonic strikes.
-Another ship is going to have to defend that carrier
from hypersonic attacks,
and those engagements are going to have to happen
as a crossing shot
like you're trying to throw the basketball at a moving car.
-Ukraine claimed to have shot down multiple
Russian hypersonic missiles in May
using a US-built air defense system
that had recently arrived.
If true, it'd be the first time a hypersonic missile
would have ever been intercepted in a conflict
and might give the US clues about how to counter them.
The US is also developing new tools like a space-based
tracking system
to follow hypersonic missiles more reliably.
But this could be stuck in testing until 2025.
-Due to the global maneuver capabilities
of hypersonic missiles, a space-based tracking
and targeting capability is a clear need.
-The main factor holding back hypersonic missiles
from large-scale production is the price.
They can cost twice as much as more common cruise missiles.
But new manufacturing methods
are making them easier to produce.
-Missiles like the Tomahawk,
those are likely to fade away over the next two decades,
and they'll be replaced by a new generation
of hypersonic weapons.