How did the US lag behind in hypersonic weapons compared to Russia?

Not long ago, Pentagon spokesman Robert Carver told Newsweek magazine that there was a “militant asymmetry of military capabilities” between Russia and the United States due to Moscow’s development of hypersonic weapon technology, which is something No other country has it. Mr. Carver said that the US needs to solve this delay. For decades, the United States has led research into hypersonic systems, but has not aimed to use hypersonic technology to make weapons. Meanwhile, rival countries decided to turn this technology into a weapon.

Faced with this seemingly “overly candid” admission of the US, the director of the Russian Center for Research on Public Affairs on National Security, retired Colonel Alexander Zhilin, was quite cautious. He believes that the above statement of the US is purposeful, because the military situation of each country is a secret that is kept secret by all means by special agencies, including spreading fake news. There is even a system in place to protect and prevent military secrets from being leaked. But with the US, Washington has repeatedly said that it lags behind Russia, so it needs to be considered.

This is not the first time the US has mentioned falling behind Russia in hypersonic weapons technology. Not long ago, US Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Technology Michael Douglas Griffin said: “At the moment, we (the US) don’t have the systems that Russia and China have. and are also incapable of defending against such systems. We would be at a disadvantage, should they decide to use them.” Mr. Griffin is someone who has repeatedly voiced about Washington’s lagging behind Moscow and Beijing. In 2018, a US defense report also said that Washington did not have enough missile defense forces effective enough against modern hypersonic weapons of Russia and China.

As discovered by Colonel Alexander Zhilin, there is a lot of information in the American press about Russian weapons, possibly related to financial problems. This expert analyzed the general idea that, when more money is needed, it is necessary to convince agencies in the political apparatus that the Pentagon needs to be allocated more budget. The Pentagon often takes such moves to achieve its goals.

This statement seems reasonable considering that, Pentagon spokesman Carver emphasized, the development of hypersonic weapons is currently the highest US research and engineering priority. The US needs to continue to do this work so that there is no doubt about its ability to maintain its dominant position “in future battles in all war zones”.

The fact is that Russia’s current level of technology for the production and production of hypersonic weapons is almost unmatched. So far, Russia is the only country that has officially announced its possession of hypersonic weapons. In February this year, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had successfully tested the Zircon supersonic anti-ship cruise missile.

If nothing changes, Russia will be the first country to be able to use hypersonic missiles not only in the air, on land and on the water, but also underwater. In the near future, the Zircon cruise missile will be equipped by the Russian military on the K-561 “Kazan” nuclear submarine. The Zircon missile, according to the announcement, can fly at such a high speed that the targets will not have time to evade the attack. The high speed of hypersonic weapons, combined with the ability to get so close to the target that submarines can bring, will not give the enemy time to react.

According to The National Interest, equipping submarines with hypersonic missiles will give Russia a significant advantage over the US and its allies. The United States and its allies are also concerned that Moscow will soon gain a significant strategic advantage by diversifying its hypersonic weapons.

Before the advancements of Russia, recently the US has also been actively researching and developing hypersonic missiles, with the hope that in the hypersonic arms race, everything is not too late for the US. At the moment, the US Air Force is teaming up with defense industry corporation Lockheed Martin, which is working to build its own hypersonic missile, to try to catch up with competitors. In 2018, the US military started with the ARRW air-to-surface missile. The US is also building the HCSW long-range hypersonic missile for the air force. In total, ARRW and HCSW will cost the US budget nearly $1.5 billion.

However, before the reality of Russia’s current development of hypersonic technology, the US will have to accelerate a lot if it does not want to be too far behind Russia. Because not only stop at hypersonic weapons, Russia also focuses on developing supersonic civil aircraft. At the recent MAKS-2019 Airshow, Russia presented a model of a new generation of supersonic passenger aircraft. With the applied technical solutions, this supersonic aircraft will fully meet the requirements of efficiency, environmental friendliness and comfort.