> The Russians have developed and used hypersonic air-to-ground missiles in Ukraine, the Kinzhal. It is very difficult to intercept a missile at these speeds, and almost impossible if the missile is maneuverable.
Speed does not make hypersonic missiles difficult to intercept. They are considerably less maneuverable than slower missiles due to the limits of material physics. The primary advantage of hypersonic weapons is that it reduces the available reaction time of the target such they may not be able to respond effectively or mount a defense. Any "difficulty of intercept" is predicated on there not being enough time to execute the intercept after the missile is detected. US air defense systems have very low reaction latencies by design, as demonstrated in Ukraine.
I am unclear why anyone thinks Russia is ahead in this field, beyond their penchant for marketing ballistic missiles like Kinzhal as "hypersonic". The US has been building and testing hypersonic weapon systems longer than most people have been alive. Unlike Russia, the US requires hypersonic missiles to have precision terminal guidance, which is an extremely difficult engineering problem within the atmosphere. It took decades for the US to figure out how to reliably deliver terminal guidance for hypersonics.
Speed does not make hypersonic missiles difficult to intercept. They are considerably less maneuverable than slower missiles due to the limits of material physics. The primary advantage of hypersonic weapons is that it reduces the available reaction time of the target such they may not be able to respond effectively or mount a defense. Any "difficulty of intercept" is predicated on there not being enough time to execute the intercept after the missile is detected. US air defense systems have very low reaction latencies by design, as demonstrated in Ukraine.
I am unclear why anyone thinks Russia is ahead in this field, beyond their penchant for marketing ballistic missiles like Kinzhal as "hypersonic". The US has been building and testing hypersonic weapon systems longer than most people have been alive. Unlike Russia, the US requires hypersonic missiles to have precision terminal guidance, which is an extremely difficult engineering problem within the atmosphere. It took decades for the US to figure out how to reliably deliver terminal guidance for hypersonics.