The flight profile of a typical hypersonic boost-glide weapon. Unlike a traditional ICBM which has a parabolic flight profile and goes well into space, the boost-glide vehicle glides at the top of the atmosphere for most of its flight path. DARPA.
Yousaf Butt, Huffington Post: The Hypersonic Arms Race Is Going Nuclear -- Take Note
A new type of high-speed arms race is heating up between the U.S., Russia and China -- and it's threatening to go nuclear. Washington had always intended for the new "hypersonic boost-glide" weapons to remain purely conventional, but Russia and China seem to be pursuing nuclear variants. If the hypersonic arms race heads in a nuclear direction, Washington may be pressured to follow. Luckily, these new weapons systems are still in their fledgling state, so there's still some time to establish international norms. Washington, Moscow and Beijing ought to call a timeout on hypersonic glide vehicle testing and start talking frankly about the risks of the hypersonic arms race going nuclear.
WNU Editor: We have covered this story more than once in this blog, but this is a good summary on the technology, and why it may throw nuclear arms control limits out the window.
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