Syllabus Section: Science and Technology (GS Paper III)

Importance: UPSC Prelims

Why in News?

The Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle, which flew through low-orbit space before cruising down towards its target.              

Hypersonic Missile:

• A hypersonic missile is a vehicle that achieves a speed five times faster than the speed of sound, crossing Mach 5.
• These missiles travel at a speed of around 6,115 km per hour, with a combination of technology and manoeuvrability of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
• They can travel much faster than current nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles at low altitudes, can switch direction in flight and do not follow a predictable arc like conventional missiles, making them much harder to track and intercept.

Concerns Associated:

For World:

• The weapon could, in theory, fly over the South Pole, that would pose a big challenge for the US military because its missile defence systems are focused on the northern polar route.
• The exact details on technology used by China in this particular test are not known through media sources. But most of the hypersonic vehicles primarily use the scramjet technology

• Scramjets are a a category of engines designed to handle airflows of speeds in multiples of the speed of sound.

• Such capabilities also highlight the threat for our space assets along with the surface assets. 

For India:

• India is especially concerned with the latest developments considering relations with China in the recent past. Such capabilities highlight the threat for our space assets along with the surface assets.

 

Source: Indian Express