For anyone who wants to support me in order to have increasingly high quality content, you can do so with one of the following methods: Patreon Subscriptions: / acdrone Single Donation on Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/acdrone Donation via a SUPER Thank you, by pressing the Heart symbol under the video. Since the late 40s, missiles have been developed with the aim of hitting the enemy at a great distance. These missiles, still present in the world's arsenals today, are called ballistic missiles because they follow a ballistic flight trajectory, that is, the trajectory of a body that, equipped with initial velocity, during the trajectory is subjected to the force of gravity and the viscous friction force of the medium in which it propagates. This type of missile, the ICBM, consists of a solid or liquid propellant rocket that carries a warhead (nuclear or conventional). The rocket is launched and carried out of the atmosphere and once the propellant is exhausted, the warhead re-enters the atmosphere and begins a descent phase that will take it to the designated target. During this descent phase the warhead reaches incredibly high speeds, of around Mach 25. The entire trajectory is pre-established and the rocket or the warhead are not able to change the flight path. The hypersonic missiles that we hear about lately are therefore not so revolutionary in terms of the speed reached. But they are for the altitude at which they fly and for their maneuverability. These new hypersonic missiles are classified into 2 categories: • HGV – Hypersonic Glide Vehicle • HCM – Hypersonic Cruise Missile HGVs are gliders, therefore not equipped with their own propulsion system. They are launched by a rocket (like ballistic missiles) but after reaching hypersonic speeds during the climb phase, they separate from the rocket before leaving the atmosphere and begin a maneuvered glide phase that will take them to the designated target. It is therefore clear that HGVs are designed to generate lift and have control surfaces that allow them to change their trajectory during the glide phase. HCMs, on the other hand, are missiles that have an autonomous propulsion system capable of taking them to hypersonic speeds and they too have movable aerodynamic surfaces that allow them to change their flight trajectory during flight. The propulsion system is, or should be, since they are still being studied and tested, a combination of a rocket engine and a scramjet. As I explained in the video on hypersonic flight ( • Let's analyze a scene from Top Gun: Mav... , this engine, although it has been successfully tested in recent years, still poses significant technological challenges. The speeds reached by missiles of this type are between Mach 5 and Mach 8. The problem with new hypersonic missiles is not so much that they are hypersonic, but that they fly at lower altitudes and are maneuverable. In the first case, the problem is that the missile defense systems currently in use would not be able to detect the missile with sufficient advance notice. The second problem means that, even if it were detected in time, the missile that would be launched as neutralized could be avoided precisely thanks to its maneuverability. Another advantage of a missile of this type is its intrinsic ability to be stealthy. At those speeds, in fact, the layer of air that surrounds the missile ionizes, becoming very high-temperature plasma which, due to its properties, absorbs electromagnetic radiation and does not reflect it, thus making the missile invisible to radar. As for the USA, the most advanced project of all is the HAWC project, a cruise missile equipped with a scramjet successfully tested in March 2022 but kept quiet to avoid escalation in the ongoing conflict. According to the Americans, all their projects do not include the use of explosive warheads (nuclear or conventional) but aim to exploit the enormous kinetic energy (due to the speed) of the missile to destroy the target. The energy released in fact by an impact of a body with a certain mass at a hypersonic speed would be so high that it would be possible to actually do without the explosive, with consequent reduction in weight or more sophisticated systems for the same weight. Although the project is at an advanced stage, it is still expected that this weapon will not be operational before 2023. Since 2019, China has had the DF-17 medium-range solid-fuel ballistic missile on which it mounts the DF-ZF HGV. Finally, let's talk about Russia, which apparently is the one with a hypersonic weapons system already in use and others ready to become operational. But even in this case, let's clarify a bit. The missiles that are always mentioned are: • Sarmat • Kinzhal • Zircon • Avangard #hypersonicmissile #avangard #hawc #df17 #ACDrone