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Hypersonic missile

Part of: Prelims and GS-II -International Relations and GS-III Defence and security

Context North Korea has successfully tested a hypersonic missile, in the first major weapons test by the nuclear-armed nation this year.

This was the second reported test of hypersonic gliding missiles, as it pursues the sophisticated technology despite international sanctions and condemnation

What are hypersonic weapons?

They are manoeuvrable weapons that can fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound.
- The speed of sound is Mach 1, and speeds upto Mach 5 are supersonic and speeds above Mach 5 are hypersonic.
Ballistic missiles, though much faster, follow a fixed trajectory and travel outside the atmosphere to re-enter only near impact.
On the contrary, hypersonic weapons travel within the atmosphere and can manoeuvre midway which combined with their high speeds makes their detection and interception extremely difficult. This makes them very powerful.
This means that radars and air defences cannot detect them till they are very close and have little time to react.
There are two classes of hypersonic weapons: hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV) and hypersonic cruise missiles (HCM).
HGVs are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target while HCMs are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines, or scramjets, after acquiring their target.

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