Hyper sonic ICBM? Wouldn’t that be in the boost phase only?
Ballistic means an unpowered descent, right? Could it retain hyper sonic speed when being brought down by gravity alone?
The issue is the speed and the fact that it can maneuver.
I think that's an artifact of trying to apply an existing label to a totally new type of threat. They aren't ballistic, they are basically intercontinental cruise missiles. They are scary and we'd better get prepared to deal with them or we'll be at a serious strategic disagvantage.
They are like bullets with terminal guidance.
And much faster. But they slow rapidly in the atmosphere...in 10s of miles they are no longer hypersonic. Sometimes they even disintegrate.
That said, I don’t think anyone has developed a broadly deployable weapon system for fixed targets yet, much less so the Chinese brag on hitting moving ships with one.
“Ballistic means an unpowered descent, right?”
YOU are correct in challenging their use of ICBM but your definition is incorrect.
Ballistic refers to uncontrolled descent under gravity alone.
Hypersonic missiles may be boosted to a high altitude and the descend under gravity or powered all the way to the target but in both cases their flight path is controlled.