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One of the (few) neat things about a Mach 6 platform is the potential stand-off range one can get with unpowered guided munitions (ie. high-speed JSOW equivalents). This increases the warhead weight per kg of warload (effectively transferring some of the weapon system's propulsion from the weapon load to the launch platform). At those speeds, standard defensive systems have much smaller zones of no escape - so you can get a bit closer too.However, supersonic munitions produce much higher drag (so the efficiency is worse than sub-sonic warheads) and the heat signature of the launch platform makes it easy to design higher speed surface-to-air missiles to counter the reduced ZNE). So, it has a limited attraction. However, it would be really interesting to see if any high-speed guided bombs were planned for such platforms.
One of the (few) neat things about a Mach 6 platform is the potential stand-off range one can get with unpowered guided munitions (ie. high-speed JSOW equivalents). This increases the warhead weight per kg of warload (effectively transferring some of the weapon system's propulsion from the weapon load to the launch platform). At those speeds, standard defensive systems have much smaller zones of no escape - so you can get a bit closer too.
However, supersonic munitions produce much higher drag (so the efficiency is worse than sub-sonic warheads) and the heat signature of the launch platform makes it easy to design higher speed surface-to-air missiles to counter the reduced ZNE). So, it has a limited attraction. However, it would be really interesting to see if any high-speed guided bombs were planned for such platforms.
