The Pentagon has reportedly assessed that China’s newest hypersonic missile, the DF-27, poses a significant danger to U.S. aircraft carriers due to its ability to pierce U.S. missile defenses and its range (which can reach as far as Hawaii).
In an article published in a Chinese academic magazine in May 2023, the authors stated that China’s hypersonic missiles could “certainly” kill a U.S. carrier group. This capacity may possibly upset the strategic balance of power and leave the United States with few choices for aiding Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China, since it threatens to marginalize U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the Pacific.
The next-generation hypersonic missiles being developed by China, Russia, and the United States represent a serious danger to international stability, as seen by this shift in the balance of power. As a space and military systems expert, particularly hypersonic systems, I am an aerospace engineer.
Due to their flexibility during their entire flight path, these novel technologies provide a significant challenge. Due to the unpredictable nature of their flight trajectories, intercepting these missiles needs constant monitoring.
Another significant difficulty is that they function at an area of the atmosphere where there are no other known hazards. The new hypersonic weapons travel at significantly lower altitudes than intercontinental ballistic missiles yet at much greater altitudes than subsonic missiles. The United States and its allies lack adequate tracking coverage for this transitional zone, as do Russia and China.
Impact on stability
Russia claims it has hypersonic weapons that can deliver a nuclear bomb. Whether or if this claim is correct, it raises serious concerns. In the event that Russia deploys this technology against an adversary, the latter will have to assess the likelihood that Russia is employing nuclear weapons.
