Report flags need for hypersonic response against Russia's missile defences

By Gerry Doyle

  Russia’s anti-missile defences around Moscow may be enough to blunt an attack by Europe’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles, increasing pressure on the continent to develop new hypersonic weapons at a time when its leaders fret over the reliability of the US as an ally.  

The A-235 anti-ballistic missile system and S-500 air defence systems around the capital have advanced to the point where they could keep UK and French nuclear warheads from getting through, according to a report released Thursday by the Royal Universal Services Institute research organization in London.

 

Any doubts about the effectiveness of the submarine-launched weapons would undercut their value as a deterrent — even as France, Germany and others try to work out how the continent can be a nuclear power without relying on the so-called US nuclear umbrella.

 

Hypersonic maneuvering warheads on long-range ballistic missiles, or “prompt conventional strike” systems, could offer a solution, the report says, as they are better able to evade and destroy defences. That would ensure strategic weapons such as UK Trident and French M51 missiles get through.

 

“This is the most pressing use case for hypersonics even assuming they remain expensive,” said Sidharth Kaushal, a senior fellow at RUSI and the report’s author.

 

Such weapons also provide other options for Europe to hit valuable targets without resorting to nuclear warheads. Their high speed, range and destructive power expands the areas for which Russia would need to deploy high-end defences.

 

“Many of the targets which might have historically required a nuclear weapon to be used can be struck with conventional weapons,” Kaushal wrote in the report. “Prompt strike capabilities would make this viable.”

 

European rocket maker ArianeGroup is in talks with Germany and France to develop a new ballistic missile that can hit targets several thousand kilometers away with hypersonic warheads.

 

“We are talking about a range of at least 1,000 kilometers,” Vincent Pery, director of defence programs at ArianeGroup, told reporters this month. “We can go to 2,000 kilometers, we can go to 3,000 kilometers.”

 

The US has invested more than $12 billion since 2018 in an attempt to develop, test and deploy a hypersonic system known as Dark Eagle. The first battery will cost about $2.7 billion, including missiles, according to the Government Accountability Office.

 

The weapon has been repeatedly delayed, although one battery was activated in December.