The in effect old days of threaten the world with a jillion atomic intercontinental ballistic missile are over . radio-controlled aircraft work great , but are comparatively sluggish . So what if we need to blow something up in a hurry ? The Army ’s get a newtoy .
The Pentagon harbinger a rare successful weapons tryout today , arrogate its Advanced Hypersonic Weapon — fundamentally a rocket planer with a warhead strapped to it — made a successful , 2,400 mi trip over the sea . No ordnance was packed in this time , just sensors to make certain the affair can vanish straight . But the Army managed to demonstrate it can fling this thing at f number over the sound barrier—768 mph .
Interestingly , and perhaps most importantly , as DefenseTech points out , the AHW fly a “ a non - ballistic glide flight . ” That ’s Pentagonese for very downcast . Most thermonuclear warhead shoot luxuriously into the atmosphere , and then arc back down onto their doomed butt . But by flying extremely fast and fantastically close , the AHW will not only not activate Oh tinker’s damn , a nuclear warfare is about to depart alarm across the globe , but will fudge opposition detection . The thought , according to an environmental impactreportfrom this summertime , is to “ provide the President with the ability to promptly wage targets at strategic grasp without using atomic weapons ” by using a “ energizing warhead ” instead of a nuke . Essentially , the AHW can be launched quickly , moving five air mile every 2d , and destroy its target using the sheer force of its impact . Which is considerable , given that it librate yard of pound sterling and is move past Mach 5 . [ PentagonviaDefenseTech ]
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