Yet Another Hypersonics Wake-Up Call.

• Author: Lewis, Mark J.
• Position: Emerging Technology Horizons

Russian claims of using hypersonic missiles to strike targets in Ukraine should be a wake-up call.

Though purists might argue that hypersonic weapons have been used before--any missile exceeding Mach 5 in the atmosphere is technically hypersonic--this appears to be the first combat use of a hypersonic maneuvering missile, a weapon combining the attributes of speed, unpredictability and altitude for increased survivability.

How concerned should we really be, and will this finally solidify U.S. resolve to field its own systems?

I can't help but think of a scene in Ridley Scott's 2005 movie Kingdom of Heaven. In that film a knight asks Saladin about the significance of his army capturing Jerusalem. Saladin replies quickly, "Nothing." Then adds dramatically, "Everything." So what does it mean that the Russians appear to have used hypersonic weapons in Ukraine? Nothing. And Everything.

This first use should not be a surprise. The intelligence community has been warning us for many years of the threat posed by Russian and Chinese hypersonics programs. Based on this, an influential 2016 Air Force Studies Board report recommended a response to include both offensive and defensive programs, coordinated across the Defense Department. An outstanding report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies recently reached much the same conclusion.

In fact, myriad studies have shown the value of hypersonics to the military in future combat, and even worse, the dire consequences of facing an adversary who is so armed. With the Russian use, those warnings carry even greater urgency.

To be fair, it is not entirely clear why the Russians used their new weapons instead of more conventional missiles. A hypersonic attack was likely not a cost-effective option, nor did the Russian forces face the sort of air defenses that hypersonics are especially adopt at penetrating. The targets that they hit do not appear to have been time-sensitive, eliminating yet another possible justification. So the answer to the question of what does it mean that the Russians used hypersonics is, well, "nothing."

Except, the Russian military has made no secret of the fact that their hypersonic missiles can be used with both conventional and nuclear warheads. Russia has also bragged of their intent to deploy large numbers of different types of hypersonic weapons, with President Vladimir Putin himself extolling his country's hypersonic capabilities and early adoption. This first...