Introducing the DF-17: China's Newly Tested Ballistic Missile Armed With a Hypersonic Glide Vehicle

thediplomat.com ^ | December 28, 2017 | By Ankit Panda

[Delta 21]

This is pretty much how I folded 'em since I was a kid.

[Vermont Lt]

Slower? I thought hypersonic meant really fast.

[ThunderSleeps]

China's hypersonic glide vehicle is believed to operate between Mach 5 and Mach 10 (x the speed of sound). A typical conventional re-entry vehicle from an IRBM or ICBM will be coming in at over Mach 15. So terminal based interceptors such as Patriot and THAAD will have a slower target. Perhaps the Navy's SM-6 will have the best chance against this kind of target - with it's on board IR seeker...

The maneuvering aspect of it will make it an "interesting" target - but the question is, how many Gs can it pull to turn? Can the guidance algorithms for the interceptors be tuned in such a way that they still out perform it and reach intercept? Perhaps volley fire of several interceptors sequenced a few seconds apart. Each forces the incoming warhead to maneuver more, scrubbing off more speed, reducing the energy budget (and turning Gs) making the next interceptor's job easier and more likely to hit...

[Vermont Lt]

Thank you for a very interesting answer and explanation.