Defense against Hypersonic Glide Vehicles

Cordy said:
MDA saying hypersonic missiles difficult to counter due to their ability to maneuver in flight though they are planning to field a new version of the SM-6 in the interim before the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) reaches operational capability in 2032. Would be correct in assuming that driving the GPI requirement to be a big and very expensive missile with a range of approx. 1,000 miles?
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Every analysis of intercepting HGVs I've seen says that the launcher needs to be within about 10km of the target to be able to make the interception AT ALL.

So either you have a relatively small number of expensive super long range missile that can pop the hypersonics while they're out of the atmosphere and unable to maneuver, or you have an enormous number of individually relatively cheap point defense missiles. Both alternatives are expensive as total programs.

I had an idea for a drone that was pretty fast climbing and pretty fast in general (basically a cross between an F104 and a D21 drone with a couple of PAC3s on it or similar), just so you might be able to get away with basing the interceptors ~180km away from the objects to be protected. 2 minutes to climb to interception altitude and accelerate to M2.9+, 3 minutes to get over the defended area. But the interception geometry works out to needing to launch that drone when the HGV is ~1800km away!
 
Scott Kenny said:
Every analysis of intercepting HGVs I've seen says that the launcher needs to be within about 10km of the target to be able to make the interception AT ALL.
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Without knowing the missile or target HGV that analysis isn't too helpful.
 
siegecrossbow said:
Real answer is to intercept at mid-stage or earlier. Anything past that would be playing to the missile’s advantage.
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Depends on the glide vehicle. Some start gliding WAY out. The problem is much like Boost Phase Intercept if you're not going after the glider.
 

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This might have been mentioned already and likely obvious to everyone for a while now, but giving the Army the new mid-range strike capabilities with Tomahawk's (as well as long-range capability real soon!) and SM-6's deployed spread throughout Guam (potentially in very large numbers).
With all that, Pacific DDG's only need to have AD Missiles in their VLS!
Maybe certain ships can be loaded out with a small quantity of Tomahawk's for deeper strikes, as they can sail closer to the target...
My point is, more SM-3/6 Interceptors for HGV defense...
 
US Army/USMC land launchers cannot achieve anything like the salvo density of a Burke class destroyer. An MRC battery is 16 missiles. A Burke with only a quarter of its cells is 24. A CSG with 25-35% of its Mk41s dedicated to tomahawk is 100-150 missiles. Land based systems can reload and continue to be threat longer perhaps, but large scale surge strikes are still a USN thing. Or a USAF bomber thing.
 
TAOG said:

Shyu: DOD developed, deployed classified counter-hypersonic capabilities | InsideDefense.com

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- The U.S. military rapidly developed and deployed still-classified means to defeat hypersonic missiles, the fruit of a focused effort the Pentagon's top technology official spearheaded to find ways to defeat a new class of ultra-fast maneuvering weapons deemed a "huge success."
insidedefense.com insidedefense.com
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Kind of makes you wonder what it is. Would a missile interceptor be a classified means? I wouldn't have thought so, the missile itself might be classified but the fact it's a missile probably wouldn't.

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Northrop Grumman's next-gen missile warning satellites move to manufacturing

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breakingdefense.com

Hypersonic missile defense deserves predictable and sustainable funding - Breaking Defense

Keeping the Glide Phase Interceptor program on track needs to be a priority for the new administration and Congress, writes former NORTHCOM officer Howard “Dallas” Thompson.
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com
 
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