Europe scrambling under Russia’s hypersonic threat

German and Spanish missile manufacturers jointly aim to develop a hypersonic missile interceptor, a move that will seek to modernize wider Europe’s missile defenses against emerging new Russian threats.

The European Hypersonic Defense Interceptor (EU HYDEF) project will cover the concept phase to develop a so-called endo-atmospheric interceptor, which will aim to cover threats from 2035 and beyond.

It will run for 36 months at a projected cost of US$110 million, with the EU contributing almost $100 million to the effort.

Defense News reports that the program’s goal is to field a countermeasure that can eventually be integrated into existing air defense systems capable of early warning, tracking and interception of current and future airborne threats including ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

The same report mentions that Germany’s Diehl Defense will serve as the project’s technical lead, while Spain’s Sener Aerospacial Sociedad Anonima will coordinate the effort.

Both companies work closely with the IRIS-T surface-to-air missile system, emphasizing the strong working relationship between the two defense firms.

The IRIS-T surface-to-air missile system in test mode. Image: Diehl Defense Diehl will be responsible for the interceptor system’s engineering and design, upstage design and system simulation, upstage guidance, navigation and control, seeker head and signal electronics, according to the same report.

At the same time, Sener will lead work on guidance, navigation and control (GNC) systems, along with communications, actuators and aerodynamic control.

Sener, in a statement, mentioned that the project “will result in the concept, risk reduction and demonstration of an efficient endo-atmospheric interceptor capable of operating at different flight levels, which will include an innovative aerodynamic control system for high maneuverability, very agile guiding concepts and advanced sensor and search systems.”

It added that the EU HYDEF project will involve 13 companies and organizations from seven European nations, namely Spain, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Czech Republic, Poland and Sweden.

Europe scrambling under Russia’s hypersonic threat

Anyone surprised about Putin lying about Russia using the 'new hypersonic' Kinzhal missile in combat?

How Russia fooled the world about its ‘hypersonic’ Kinzhal

Russia’s Kinzhal may be hypersonic, but it’s certainly nothing new.

The truth is, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missile is actually little more than a conventional air-launched ballistic missile with a design that dates back to the 1980s. It has benefited a great deal from both intentional and less-than-intentional misconceptions about this new class of weapons, often cited as a reason the United States is lagging behind Russia in a hypersonic arms race (that, as we’ve discussed before, isn’t quite what it seems either).

Hypersonic speed isn’t actually all that special, but there are new weapons that leverage hypersonic speeds to achieve objectives in new or different ways. The Kinzhal, however, just isn’t one of them

At hypersonic speeds, air itself becomes the enemy as it impacts the vehicle, creating enough friction and pressure to damage or even incinerate most common aircraft and missile materials. The space shuttle, however, regularly exceeded Mach 25, or more than 17,500 miles per hour, during reentry. The Air Force’s current (and secretive) X-37B can also reach these blistering speeds. In fact, practically every ballistic missile and spacecraft mankind has ever launched had been and still is hypersonic in nature.

That means all of the ICBMs in America’s nuclear stockpile, all of Russia’s Kinzhal missiles, and even Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 reusable rockets all share the distinction of being hypersonic… and in fact, Russia’s Kinzhal missile has more in common with those applications than it does with the new slew of “hypersonic weapons” nations like Russia, China, and the United States are competing to field.

Modern “hypersonic weapons” usually come in one of two categories (and the Kinzhal doesn’t fit into either)

Today, when people talk about new hypersonic weapons, they’re usually referring to one of two kinds that are currently in development or in service with China, Russia, and the United States: hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles.

Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) aren’t all that different than the warheads on traditional long-range ballistic missiles, at least in the early stages of their flight path. They are carried into the atmosphere via high-velocity rocket boosters just like traditional ICBMs, though often not quite as high. The missile then deploys one or more glide vehicles that rely on momentum and their control surfaces to manage their high-speed descent as they close with their targets. hypersonic weapons

Russia does have a hypersonic boost glide-vehicle reportedly in service in their Avangard weapon system slated to be carried aboard their forthcoming nuclear ICBM, the RS-28 Sarmat. China’s DF-ZF anti-ship weapon also falls within this category, as do America’s Conventional Prompt Strike weapon and AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), both in development.

Hypersonic cruise missiles, on the other hand, rely on an advanced propulsion system called a scramjet. A scramjet, or supersonic combusting ramjet, is a variation on longstanding ramjet technology, but allows combustion to take place while air flows through the engine at supersonic speeds. Because scramjets are really only efficient at these high speeds, these missiles are often deployed from fast-moving aircraft or rely on a different form of propulsion in the first part of their flight path (like a rocket).

https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/why-calling-russias-kinzhal-a-hypersonic-missile-is-a-stretch/

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