Hypersonic Missiles

[boji]

Ok, a way around using nukes (and anti-missile tech)... but... how easy would it be to salt them with depleted uranium or Cs-137?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/magazine/hypersonic-missiles.html

 

[JohnRoberts]

I saw that when it first hit the news several weeks ago,,, Russian IIRC, and pretty much a defensive anti-missile missile defense.

I thought Israel was leading that parade with all their work to thwart missiles coming from relatively nearby (syria, lebanon, Golan, etc). 

The velocity of the new Russian technology begs questions about heating from friction with air in the atmosphere. High performance aircraft traveling a fraction of that speed have heat issues.  For longer range intercepts that can go up higher where the air is thinner could help.

Going that fast maybe the party is over before they melt.  :

Fast is good...

JR

 

[boji]

High performance aircraft traveling a fraction of that speed have heat issues.

Made me think back to this astonishing heatmap:

Edit: Numbers are probably conservative since even today, official top speeds vary depending on who's supplying the info.

 

[Tubetec]

I was going to mention the SR-71,
It leaks fuel on the ground , the panels only fit together properly when its reached temp/altitude.

So it looks like another huge sink hole for vast quantities of resources so all sides can have their game of 'my warhead is bigger/faster than yours'   

 

[ruffrecords]

I love hype for its ability to completely ignore the laws of physics. The article says these missiles will be 5 to 10 feet long.  Given that constraint. the ability to reach Mach14 or so depends entirely on the energy density of the fuel used. This determines the acceleration which, with the volume of fuel, determines the final velocity. With current fuels, Mach 15 is simply not achievable in a 5 of10 foot long missile.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

I love hype for its ability to completely ignore the laws of physics. The article says these missiles will be 5 to 10 feet long.  Given that constraint. the ability to reach Mach14 or so depends entirely on the energy density of the fuel used. This determines the acceleration which, with the volume of fuel, determines the final velocity. With current fuels, Mach 15 is simply not achievable in a 5 of10 foot long missile.

Cheers

Ian

Defensive anti missile missiles need to be fast for obvious reasons, at that speed with that much kinetic energy it could be melting and still be effective.

I do not doubt that the description involves hyper truth.

JR

 

[Tubetec]

I read a bit more on the technology and it seems to involve a booster rocket to get it up to altitude and speed initially , its supposed to then ride its own sonic boom once the ramjet kicks in .  Theres no way id have the mathmatics to compute the energies involved  ,but even your enemy thinking you might possess such a weapon  would be enough to start the arms race ball rolling . 

 

[ruffrecords]

I read a bit more on the technology and it seems to involve a booster rocket to get it up to altitude and speed initially , its supposed to then ride its own sonic boom once the ramjet kicks in .  Theres no way id have the mathmatics to compute the energies involved  ,but even your enemy thinking you might possess such a weapon  would be enough to start the arms race ball rolling .

That seems more likely. A ramjet has no need to carry oxidant. I seem to remember that cpmmon solid fuel missiles can reach Mach 2 in next to no time at which point a ram jet could take over.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

The US hypersonic program (mach 5-10) requires being lifted by a rocket to get up high enough to operate effectively.

The Russian hyper announcement of up to 20x speed of sound  is almost unbelievable... :

JR