Hypersonic missiles: The age of AI is raising risk levels
Live MintIt’s a no-brainer that global geopolitics is dictating the modern arms race, with security concerns, power struggles and shifting alliances driving nations to expand and modernize their military capabilities. The successful testing of India’s indigenously-developed long-range hypersonic missile supports this contention, while marking a big leap in the country’s tech capability. There are two primary types, both fast and sneaky: Hypersonic ‘glide vehicles,’ which are launched on rockets and glide through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, and ‘cruise missiles,’ which are powered by scramjet engines, enabling them to sustain these speeds throughout their flight. The US Army’s LRHW, Dark Eagle, has a reported range of 2,760km; the US also has a land-launch system armed with missiles that can travel faster than 6,080kmph.