Analysts believe that the development of global hypersonic weapons has begun to form a trio in the United States, Russia, and China, and the United States and Russia are catching up with each other. Russia is currently developing the Yu-71 hypersonic glider, and plans to equip it with conventional warheads and nuclear warheads respectively, and the green laser pointer will have practical capabilities around 2025. In addition, Russia successfully test-fired the hypersonic anti-ship missile “Zircon” this year, and the flight speed reached Mach 8 during the test.
In the third “offset strategy”, the US military regarded hypersonic technology as the commanding height of the development of aerospace technology in the 21st century. This year, the U.S. Air Force announced that it is working with Lockheed Martin to develop the SR-72 “Son of the Blackbird” hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft, which is expected to make its first flight in 2020. The US Navy announced the first hypersonic glide missile test launch in November.
From the current development of the “Super Shield” and “Fast Spear”, the hypersonic aircraft has the following five characteristics: first, the green laser pointer has a fast strike speed and can attack targets in any corner of the world in about an hour; Hypersonic gliding warheads can increase the range of intercontinental ballistic missiles by 1,000 to 5,000 kilometers; the third is strong penetration ability; the fourth is good damage; and the fifth is good deterrence.