Will supersonic rockets start World War 3?

The United States, Russia and China are racing to develop rockets from 6.125 km / h or more. European countries, Japan, Australia and India are also eager to build it. How is this rocket "super"?

RAND Strategic Research Institute (USA) has just released a report saying that the generation of new-generation rocket-producing countries capable of achieving supersonic speeds , also known as hypersonic , could initiated the 3rd World War.

Many countries are racing to create supersonic rockets - (Photo: Raytheon).

The dissemination of this state-of-the-art weapon not only poses a threat to small countries but also the great powers in a strategic war.

The report also suggests that the powers and the world community should work together to closely control production as well as ban the export of this type of missile.

Race between countries

Attack process of supersonic missiles - (Source: DARPA).

The supersonic speed is from 6.125 km / h or more, the velocity below this threshold is called supersonic.

According to FlightGlobal, the US is currently deploying a High-Speed ​​Attack Weapon program, which is expected to launch an attack missile capable of reaching a speed of 6,000km / h in 2019 and will equip troops. team in later years.

Russia and China are also racing to develop this type of missile to dominate the military strategy.

In addition, European countries, Japan, Australia and India are also actively researching to create this new generation of missiles, according to MailOnline.

Comparison of rocket types - (Source: DARPA).

Ultrasound rockets are testing to achieve high velocity thanks to the mechanism of thrusting by a straight-line jet engine, also known as an ultrasound static jet engine (scramjet engine).

This type of motor needs a high initial speed to be able to load enough air and fuel to operate. It only operates effectively in high speed conditions and in low air density.

Therefore, it must be launched by a conventional rocket to the upper atmosphere of the earth before starting to work to reach the supersonic speed. Therefore, they are not suitable for mounting on conventional missiles or jet aircraft.

Risk of war

Currently, conventional ballistic missiles carrying warheads or nuclear explosives, only achieve supersonic speeds when they begin to hit the target.

When launched, they will follow the arc-shaped ballistic, the peak of the highest altitude outside the earth's atmosphere, then they gradually descend into the atmosphere. At this point the rocket will reach supersonic speed.

Many people fear the supersonic rocket will start World War 3 - (Photo: DARPA).

But with this method, missiles cannot flexibly change trajectories or can be remotely controlled as missiles using straight-line jet engines.

New generation supersonic rockets have the advantage of being more compact, can be controlled remotely, the explosive mechanism contained in the warhead can be adjusted according to the tactical requirements from time to time.

Another great advantage is that they can change very flexible routes to avoid enemy defense missiles.

The RAND report states that any country that owns this type of missile will have a great strategic and strategic advantage.

Therefore, they are ready to attack the enemy's front with a nuclear warhead because it is certain that the enemy does not have enough reaction time and there is currently no effective solution.

Therefore, the risk of initiating for World War 3 to use all nuclear weapons is huge.

"The supersonic rocket (hypersonic - before 1975 has a translation of" sound ") , has more features than the current generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles (or volitional missiles) Convention intercontinental ballistic missiles in that it can change very flexible flight routes like tatical cruise missile, and its speed and pitch are many times higher than itinerary type, but has a lower pitch than the intercontinental ballistic.

This makes it extremely difficult to shoot down by the enemy's missile defense system which is only designed to intercept the two types of missiles mentioned above, according to The National Interest.

With the ability to change the itinerary extremely flexible and can change the last minute attack target according to the latest tactical requirements, supersonic missiles make the enemy unable to guess you will be beaten at any place until it got too close, then it was too late.

To date, there has been no 100% effective measure to intercept this new generation of missiles.

Previously, scientists also expressed concern about the development of this new line of weapons. It has been suggested that production should be banned.