U.S. military fast-tracks hypersonic weapons for missile defense against sophisticated new enemy ICBMs
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is fast-tracking the U.S. Next-Generation Interceptor (NGI) program to deploy a missile defense system able to track and destroy enemy threats that include high-speed, precision-guided intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and hypersonic weapons in space. Kris Osborn of The National Interest reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
7 Oct. 2021 -- Mobile ICBM launchers, hypersonic nuclear weapons, multiple precision-guided re-entry vehicles, and several missiles attacks at once, each with several separating warheads, are all very serious threats.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and industry are working quickly to counter these threats with new weapons like a next-generation interceptor for missile defense by the end of the decade.
The emerging NGI is expected to destroy several ICBMs at once, while distinguishing actual ICBMs from debris, decoys, or enemy countermeasures. This requires a new measure of seeker discernment for missile defense that can discriminate actual threats from decoys, and to track many threats at once.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
