Summary: China, the United States, Russia and other military powers have basically entered the deployment and actual combat stage, bringing new threats to the most valuable targets of various countries, so the study of hypersonic interception technology has gradually been put on the agenda. The United States is at the forefront of this regard, and its projects such as the "Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space-Based Sensor" (HBTSS), the high-altitude persistent infrared architecture (BOA) system based on SBIRS and OPIR, and the "gliding flight phase ***GPI" will achieve superb early warning and interception.
First, the first stage: detection and early warning.
At present, the mainstream structure of foreign hypersonic ** is the boost-glide wave-riding body structure derived from China, and the aircraft of this type of structure can "play in the water" at the edge of the atmosphere to achieve a wide range of maneuvers, with a maximum speed of about Mach 15. But it has the disadvantage that when it re-enters the atmosphere, it rubs against the air at high speed to produce temperatures of hundreds to thousands of degrees. This temperature may not be easy to detect in the atmosphere, but its infrared signature is still more pronounced against the background of cosmic radiation at the edge of the atmosphere.
The "Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space-Based Sensor" (HBTSS) and the "Next-Generation Overhead Sustained Infrared (OPIR)" systems vigorously developed by the US military are equipped with new high-sensitivity infrared sensors, the purpose of which is very clear, that is, to detect the infrared radiation of this waverider warhead, so as to achieve global early warning and tracking of it. At the same time, HBTSS can also provide fire control data for interceptor missiles, which indicates that its detection accuracy will be high. To some extent, as long as the sensitivity of infrared sensors is high enough and the number of satellites launched is high enough, it is possible to achieve superb global detection and tracking.
2. The second stage: track**.
In the past, the trajectory of ballistic missiles was very easy, and the US military could calculate its trajectory and landing point during its launch phase, but it had the ability to maneuver in a wide range and could not achieve its trajectory during the launch stage. Among them, the US military BOA is a ground processing system used to receive sensor measurement data of threatening missiles, and generate trajectory reports to C2BMC for missile defense use. Its latest version is BOA7., which entered service in September 20220, it initially realizes the detection and tracking of the superb.
During the Russia-Ukraine conflict, C2BMC deployed the BOA7., which is in the testing phase0, provides advanced threat tracking capabilities, but the trajectory of its synthesized hypersonic ** should be the trajectory of the Russian army's "Dagger", which is essentially just an air-launched version of a ballistic missile with limited maneuverability and is relatively easier**. The booster glide body uses wings and attitude engines to jointly adjust the course, and the maneuvering range is much larger than that of ballistic missiles, and it is still difficult to accurately determine its trajectory.
3. The third stage: interception.
At present, the maximum speed of the boost-glide waverider warhead can reach about Mach 15, and the average speed in its gliding flight phase should be between Mach 10 and Mach15; In the landing stage, considering the existence of the communication "black barrier" area, its landing speed should be about Mach 5-6 (just a rough estimate, the surface needs to be specially treated to deal with the "black barrier"); According to the calculation that the interceptor missile needs to be twice the speed of the target projectile, the speed of the interceptor missile in the gliding section needs to reach more than Mach 20; The speed of the interceptor missile in the landing section needs to reach Mach 10 or more.
In the landing section, almost none of the low-altitude anti-aircraft missiles currently used by the US military can reach the speed of Mach 6, so in the landing section, it can only be intercepted by head-on impact based on the track ** and using radar to lock on to the target. In the high-altitude gliding section, the maximum speed of the US THAAD missile is about Mach 8, and the maximum speed of the Standard-3 missile is about Mach 15. If THAAD wants to intercept the waverider warhead, it also needs to be intercepted head-on based on the track**, and its success rate is low; The interception success rate of the Standard-3 missile will be relatively high.
gliding flight stage (GPI) is a new type of hypersonic based on THAAD, Standard-3 and other missiles that will intercept in the high-altitude gliding segment. At present, its target parameters are not clear, if the maximum speed can reach more than Mach 20, it is still feasible to intercept a waverider warhead with a gliding speed of about Mach 10.
Summary. From the above analysis, it can be seen that the hypersonic interception system being promoted by the US military still has the hope of intercepting unpowered boost-glide waverider warheads. However, such warheads can also be equipped with scramjet engines to improve their maneuverability and terminal speed; The track of the waverider body with the engine installed will be difficult to **, and the gliding speed will be greatly increased, thus increasing the probability of penetration. (Beijing Lande Information Technology***.)