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by BrahMos," said Atul Rane, CEO and MD,
BrahMos Aerospace.
India is also developing a second generation
BrahMos-II missile is collaboration with Russia.
This devastating projectile will hurtle towards
its target at 2.5 km/s (9 250 km/h; 5 750 mph; [ COVER STORY ]
or eight times faster than the speed of sound!)
that will be enough to evade any air defense
system in the world. It is expected to have a
range of 600 km. The first BrahMos-II hyper-
sonic missile battle tests are expected to take
place in early 2030.
France, First In Europe
France is joining the hypersonic weapons
club with its Project V-MaX (Experimental
Maneuvering Vehicle) aims to create a hyper-
sonic glider with a speed of more than 3,700
miles per hour, or Mach 5, by end of this year.
France could be the first European nation to website of the Procurement, Technology and Logistics Agency,
develop its own hypersonic weapons. The the Japanese government announced that in the near future two
effort appears to be aimed at developing a classes of hypersonic systems will be deployed – a hypersonic
strategic nuclear weapon, with Paris recently cruise missile (HCM) and an ultra-fast planning warhead (FPW).
awarding a contract to modify a proposed air-
launched supersonic cruise missile. Under HCM is supposed to be equipped with a hypersonic ramjet engine,
the V-MaX project, being led by ArianeGroup it will look like an ordinary rocket, but fly at a much higher speed
- a joint venture between Airbus and France's and have a long flight range. The super-fast planning warhead will
Safran - the air-to-surface ASN4G missile, be equipped with a solid propellant rocket engine that can raise
which will replace the medium-range ASMP, the warhead of the product to a great height, and then the warhead
could possibly be configured to travel at hyper- will be planned to the target intended for destruction, maintaining
sonic speeds. The ASMP, or Air-Sol Moyenne high speed immediately before the warhead is undermined. The
Portée, has an estimated speed of Mach 3 and agency also provided more detailed information on the types of
a range of 300 miles. ArianeGroup is likely warheads that will be equipped with the super-fast planning war-
to test-fly the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) head. Among them will be warheads designed to destroy both
soon. "Many countries are acquiring them surface and ground targets.
(hypersonic weapons) and we have the know-
how to develop them,” announced the then It is assumed that one of the warheads will be armor-piercing,
Defense Minister Florence Parly in February designed specifically to penetrate into the spaces below the deck
2019. “We could no longer afford to wait.” of an aircraft carrier, while the version for ground targets will use a
warhead designed to hit area targets. Tokyo plans to produce early
versions of hypersonic weapons from 2024 to 2028. It is expected
Japan Plays It Safe that they will go into service in the early 2030s. The agency expects
Japan aims to have a hypersonic weapon ready both systems to provide satellite navigation. An inertial navigation
for testing by 2025, presumably with the North system is supposed to be used as a backup. Japan plans to create
Korean nuclear missile threat and Chinese air- a network of seven satellites to provide continuous positioning for
craft carriers in mind. Japan has outlined its its self-defense forces. This will allow her to provide continuous
research and development road map for its navigation data without relying on foreign satellites.
homegrown, stand-off hypersonic weapons,
confirming that it is seeking an incremental "When combined with developments in command, control, commu-
growth in capability and providing more details nications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
about the kinds of threats it is targeting with (C4ISR), the use of hypersonic weapons has the potential to dras-
this new class of weapon. tically reduce the strike time against a broad target set,” Douglas
Barrie
Japan's defence ministry is developing what Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace at IISS noted. “For those
it calls a “hypervelocity gliding projectile," or defending the targets, these systems compress the time avail-
HVGP, for deployment on island bases start- able to adequately identify, assess, track and engage an incoming
ing in 2026. In a document published on the weapon,” Barrie added.
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