

Hypersonic missiles: Speed is the new stealth - nether
http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21578522-hypersonic-weapons-building-vehicles-fly-five-times-speed-sound

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JoeAltmaier
What? "Cannot be mistaken for a nuclear missile". Just because they fly
differently from traditional ICBMs doesn't mean anyone with an ounce of sense
will conclude "Must not have a nuke on board".

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_delirium
There seems to be a kind of informal agreement (somewhat backed up by the
arms-reduction treaties) that the major nuclear powers won't secretly
introduce new nuclear delivery mechanisms, so therefore you can safely (if you
put trust in this) assume that things not fitting into the known
US/USSR/Chinese/etc. nuclear delivery methods aren't delivering nuclear
weapons.

Put differently, ICBMs officially _can_ be nuclear weapons, and so basically
can't be used for delivering conventional ordinance by the major powers, even
where they would technically be a good choice.

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Gravityloss
I wonder how hard it really is? Lockheed X-7A3, a ramjet demonstrator flew at
mach 4.5 in the fifties already, and ASALM flew at mach 5.5 around 1980 before
cancellation in favor of subsonic cruise missiles.

[http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-60.html](http://www.designation-
systems.net/dusrm/m-60.html) [http://www.designation-
systems.net/dusrm/app4/asalm.html](http://www.designation-
systems.net/dusrm/app4/asalm.html)

