War.
War never changes, but the weapons to wage it with are constantly evolving- and they've
never evolved faster than in modern times.
Even as new technology has unlocked all manner of improvements to our life, it's also created
the most lethal military weapons ever invented.
But which top the list of most lethal modern military weapons?
What weapon rules the modern battlefield?
Let's find out.
America’s F-22 Raptor Pound for pound, the American F-22 Raptor
is the undisputed ruler of the skies.
While originally detracted for its inability to dogfight, the fact is that the days of
close-range dogfighting are well and truly over.
Modern anti-air weapon systems, long-range acquisition and tracking, and the sheer speed
of modern fighter jets make a traditional dogfight a thing of fiction.
That is why the US military went all-in on optimizing the F-22 to be a stealthy long-range
assassin.
While its stealth characteristics vary- just as with any stealth aircraft- on the angle
the plane presents to incoming radar waves, at its most optimal angles the F-22 gives
off the same radar signature as that of a flying marble.
While no plane is truly invisible, the F-22 is the most survivable stealth fighter in
the skies today.
But stealthiness is only half of the equation, because what makes the F-22 truly lethal is
its incredible ability to detect targets at extremely long range and network with other
battlefield assets, including drones, airborne radar, other planes, and even satellites.
With such low observability and beyond visual range engagement capabilities, the F-22 is
a first-look, first-shoot aircraft, with missiles incoming to enemy fighters before they've
even detected the F-22.
Unfortunately, the F-22 was only built in small numbers, with the US Air Force operating
187 out of a planned fleet of hundreds.
With the advent of the global war on terrorism, funding priorities quickly shifted elsewhere,
and the costly aircraft- coming in at $150 million a unit- was nixed to the current operational
fleet.
It was decided at the time that the F-22 was simply so advanced that no other nation presented
a realistic threat against it, and thus large numbers of it were unnecessary.
Even the Chinese Chengdu J-20 and the Russian SU-57 were deemed to be both not threatening
enough and not to be produced in large enough numbers to pose a serious threat against American
air forces.
With China's growing ambitions in the South China Sea and rapidly modernizing military
though, the US Air Force has already begun planning for a replacement to the F-22 and
the F-35, through its Next Generation Air Dominance program.
Despite its low numbers, for now the F-22 though will remain the deadliest fighter above
any battlefield it finds itself in.
The F-22 may rule the skies, but our next lethal modern weapon is the undisputed king
of the underwater domain.
American Seawolf-class Submarine
Built at the end of the Cold War, the American Seawolf class of submarines remains the most
advanced submarines ever built, outclassing even the modern US Virginia class submarines
which are replacing America's Los Angeles class.
Originally developed to counter advanced Soviet ballistic missile and attack submarines, the
Seawolf was jam-packed with the most advanced technology the US has ever fielded under the
sea.
Out of 29 originally planned to enter service, only three were ever completed due to the
end of the Cold War.
Much like America's F-22 Raptor, the Seawolf found itself a victim of having no realistic
threat to go up against, and thus American budget priorities were shifted elsewhere.
At a cost of $5 billion per submarine, they are a whopping 2 billion dollars more expensive
than modern Virginia class submarines which are soon to become the workhorse of the American
attack sub fleet.
All that money was well spent on creating the stealthiest submarine to ever cruise the
ocean, with an operational Seawolf described as being quieter than a Los Angeles class
submarine sitting idle at port.
American sonar operators often joke that if you want to track a Seawolf, follow the silent
void cruising around the ocean.
All three original Seawolfs remain in service with the US Navy, and their stealth is so
formidable that they have been modified to allow for shallow water operations such as
delivering Navy SEALs and other special forces directly onto enemy beaches.
Famously, a Seawolf was tasked with the nearly impossible mission of tapping a Russian communications
cable just offshore from a major Russian base, and the tap remained undetected and active
for years.
American Seawolfs are rapidly approaching thirty years in service, and yet there is
no sign for their imminent retirement, another clue as to just how deadly these extremely
classified submarines really are.
Recognizing the growing submarine threat posed by Russia and China, the US Navy last year
announced a plan to purchase a new generation of “Seawolf-like” subs specialized in
hunting and destroying enemy submarines.
Despite only three of its kind in service, the American Seawolf is the undisputed king
of the underwater realm.
The US may have the advantage in the air and below the waves, but our next weapon threatens
any American aircraft finding itself in the wrong sky.
Russia’s S-500 Air Defense System
The United States has historically held the advantage in combat aircraft, forcing Russia
to invest heavily- much more so than NATO- in air defense systems.
This has given Russia an unrivaled expertise in creating air defense weapons, and its newest
surface-to-air/anti-ballistic missile system puts the American equivalent, the Patriot
missile battery, to shame.
The S-500 was originally planned in the late 1960s, with a requirement to engage enemy
aircraft up to 62 miles (100 km) away.
The Soviet military however rejected the weapon, requiring that a new air defense system be
able to engage not just enemy aircraft, but the growing threat posed by ballistic missiles.
Thus the Soviets decided to invest in the S-300 family of air defense systems instead,
shelving the S-500 for a few decades.
Today technology has caught up with Soviet ambitions, delivering the most advanced air
defense system in the world.
Unlike many Russian military projects of late, such as the SU-57, the S-500 seems to be more
than just propaganda, and American intelligence sources familiar with details of the system
confirmed a successful intercept of an airborne target at a range of nearly 300 miles (482
km).
The S-500 is designed to be rapidly deployed, with mobile radar and missile vehicles which
can be set up in as little as thirty minutes time, making them very hard to pinpoint and
eliminate before becoming active.
Realistic estimates are that the system can track and engage up to ten targets at once,
and can be used against intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic cruise missiles, aircraft,
and even low earth orbit satellites.
With an operational range of 370 miles (600 km), the S-500 can seriously threaten any
enemy aircraft attempting to enter its domain, and is without a doubt the most lethal air
defense unit in the world.
The American navy is the most powerful in the world, but even it may not be able to
defend itself from our next weapon.
China's DF-26 Ballistic Missile
China faces a serious problem in the Pacific- the US Navy.
Despite having a larger fleet, China's navy remains technologically behind the US, and
the nation is still incapable of carrying out bluewater navy operations far from home.
This is a serious problem for a nation that gets more than sixty percent of its trade
via the ocean, all coming through trade routes it cannot hope to defend in the case of war
against the US and its allies, or India.
In response to the threat posed by the American and Indian navies, China leaned heavily into
the development and use of rocket forces, creating the world's only missile service
with the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, a military service focused exclusively on
missile warfare.
The latest addition to the Chinese rocket forces, the DF-26, may just be the deadliest
threat facing American and Indian ships in the South Pacific.
Designated the 'carrier killer', or the 'Guam killer' because of its intended use against
American aircraft carriers and its forces on Guam, the DF-26 is a dual-use intermediate
range ballistic missile capable of carrying both a nuclear and conventional warhead.
With the ability to carry a warhead weighing up to 4,000 pounds (1800 kg), the DF-26 packs
enough explosive wallop to devastate American installations on Guam, and possibly even sink
a US aircraft carrier with just one hit.
With a range of up to 2,500 miles (4,000 km), the DF-26 can not just threaten US forces
in Guam, South Korea, and Japan, but it can target American naval vessels far out at sea,
keeping American naval air power out of the fight altogether.
Its ground-attack variants sport a circular error of probability of between 150 to 450
meters, making it less than accurate.
However as it's designed to be used in overwhelming volleys meant to oversaturate enemy air defenses,
the wide targeting margin of error is largely meaningless.
While it's unknown what the circular error of probability is for its ship-attack variants,
it is estimated that it must be no greater than ten meters if it's to have any chance
of threatening American or Indian ships.
While formidable in theory, the DF-26 is not believed to have been tested against naval
targets yet, and requires a long kill chain of assets that China has not proven it can
master or defend in case of war.
With American carriers presenting a moving target hundreds or thousands of miles away,
China's DF-26 would have to be very precise indeed if it's to succeed at its primary mission
of keeping American naval airpower away from its shores.
China’s missiles are indeed deadly, but none can top the next weapon on our list of
most lethal modern military weapons.
Russia’s Hypersonic Missiles
With the United States spending the majority of the 21st century so far focused on terrorism,
it has fallen far behind traditional rivals in several key areas, such as anti-submarine
warfare and the development of hypersonic weapons.
Of the two, none pose as great a threat to American forces as Russia's next generation
hypersonic missiles.
Already deploying several variants, some of which are nuclear-capable, the weapon that
most worries US officials is the Zircon family of hypersonic missiles.
These weapons fly at six times the speed of sound, giving air defense systems as little
as a minute to respond to the incoming threat.
If fired in large volleys at a target such as a carrier strike group, the group's air
defense cruisers would have only thirty seconds or less to detect, track, and intercept before
the missile's high speed brings it to its target- a daunting feat for even America's
AEGIS air defense system.
With large enough numbers, an American carrier strike group would simply be unable to respond
in time to each incoming missile, ensuring multiple hits on friendly ships.
That's if these missiles can even be tracked by radar in the first place, as the incredible
high speeds cause the build up of a cloud of plasma around the missile as it tears through
the atmosphere, absorbing incoming radar waves.
While it could still be detected by passive systems such as infrared or those that pick
up the missile's electronic emissions, these are very short range in nature and typically
don't provide a high enough fidelity to accurately guide an interceptor missile to its target.
While not impossible to defend against, hypersonic missiles provide a significant challenge to
American ships, prompting the US to invest heavily into alternative interception weapons
such as laser systems which operate at the speed of light.
However with their low flight profiles, stealth features, and incredibly high speeds, detecting
them in the first place remains a significant challenge that right now, the United States
simply has no answer for.
With only an estimated six of these missiles being required to sink a large US ship, the
American navy finds itself under serious threat for the first time since the Cold War.
Despite the threat posed by hypersonic missiles and new Chinese DF-26 ballistic missiles though,
the US Navy currently remains confident that it can operate in hostile waters.
When pressed on the matter, Navy officials have refused to comment on specific measures,
citing highly classified defensive systems in place or soon to be acquired to defend
against these next generation weapons.
Still, the threat posed by Russian hypersonic missiles is seen by many as the death knell
signaling the end of the aircraft carrier as the preeminent weapon of naval warfare,
the giant vessels simply being too large, costly, and vulnerable to be worth the investment
any longer.
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