Hypersonic Weapon as a New Challenge for the Anti-Aircraft Defense Command and Control System Piotr MALINOWSKI Military University of Aviation, Dęblin, Poland; [email protected], ORCID: 0000-0002-4240-982X DOI: https://doi.org/10.37105/sd.87 Abstract The intensification of the air threat resulting from the emergence of hypersonic weapons in the immediate vicinity of Poland has become a significant challenge for the Polish armed forces, including anti-aircraft defense. The capabilities of the new type of weapon determine not only the need to modernize and acquire systems designed to engage aerial targets, but also the command and control systems that control them. Due to the nature and the limited scope of the article, the deliberations presented in it are generalized results of a research on the scale of the threat posed by hypersonic weapons in the airspace and the need to modern- ize anti-aircraft defense command and control subsystems, which may be involved in com- bating them as part of the national air defense system. The presented conclusions also con- cern the problems of multiplying the current level of automation of the command and con- trol subsystem. This is related to the need for the effectiveness of the military decision- making process as well as uninterrupted and efficient cooperation with the national and al- lied elements of the air reconnaissance and air defense assets subsystems, including the components of missile defense, which is predestined to engage hypersonic weapons. Keywords: military security, hypersonic weapons, anti-aircraft defense, C2 system 1. Introduction defense system, including its command and control subsystem. Although the idea of cre- ating a weapon capable of immediate reac- The advent of the era of hypersonic air tion, of large range, is not new, still its em- threats in tactical operations is redefining bodiment in the form of a Russian hyper- the requirements for the entire anti-aircraft sonic weapon is a significant transformation - 89 - Hypersonic Weapon as a New Challenge of the threats that determine the necessary including Russia, were working towards pri- transformation of the domestic anti-aircraft marily using hypersonic technology in the defense potential. ballistic missiles weapon segment, boost- The desire to intensify the automation of glide vehicles, and cruise missiles. The emer- anti-aircraft defense command and control gence of military strike systems in the air- processes results from the complexity of ef- space that are capable of delivering precise fective combat against aerial targets that are strikes at speeds several times the speed of so difficult to engage. It is also a requirement sound is a significant challenge for the entire for the dynamization of operations on the air defense system, including anti-aircraft contemporary battlefield where not only hy- defense. Currently, such weapons are classi- personic weapons pose significant air fied as supersonic or hypersonic. The first threats. However, its current introduction group includes missiles which fly above into the strike assets arsenal of several ar- Mach 1. They are generally regarded as flying mies around the world reveals not only the between Mach 1 and Mach 5, about 1,000 to scale of the new threat. It also determines, as 5,000 km/h (Speier, 2017, p. 2). Whereas shown by the conducted research, an urgent the term hypersonic weapon is generally un- need to achieve an appropriate level of de- derstood to refer to the ones that fly within fense against this type of air threats, which the atmosphere at speeds above Mach 5 (five will be also influenced by the efficient func- times the speed of sound), or above 6,100 tioning of the command and control subsys- km per hour. One focus of military interest is tems. hypersonic missiles that can travel at ap- This article contains considerations and proximately 5,000 to 25,000 km per hour conclusions, the purpose of which is to pre- (or between 1.4 and 7 meters per second) sent the characteristics and capabilities of (Speier, 2017, p. 2) – up to 25 times faster hypersonic weapons, particularly emphasiz- than a standard airliner. Additionally hyper- ing the armament of the Russian Federation, sonic weapons refer to weapons that not as well as the impact of these weapons on the only travel faster than Mach 5 but also have modernization and automation of the anti- the capability to maneuver during the entire aircraft defense command and control sub- flight. system. Therefore, the author focused on New hypersonic systems currently have solving the following research problem: How two primary sub-varieties: hypersonic glide do the capabilities of hypersonic weapons af- vehicles (HGVs), and hypersonic cruise mis- fect the needs of modernization and automa- siles. The first sub-variety, hypersonic glide tion of the anti-aircraft defense command vehicles are typically launched by rockets and control subsystem? A mixed research into the upper atmosphere. After disengag- method, based on the elements of text and ing from the carrier missile, the hypersonic literature exploratory research (analysis), vehicle lowers its altitude and continues to simulation of anti-aircraft defense combat fly to its target by itself. They are released at capabilities, experiment during military ex- altitudes that can vary from around 50 km to ercises was used to solve the indicated prob- higher than 100 km and glide to their targets lem during the research, the generalized re- by skipping along the upper atmosphere. sults of which are included in the article. HGVs have a range comparable to ballistic missiles but they fly at a lower altitude, and a negligible portion of their flight path fol- lows a ballistic trajectory. This results in the 2. Hypersonic weapons as an air time between detection by ground-based threat sensors and impact being shorter compared to a ballistic missile’s re-entry vehicle (Brehm, Weeler, 2019, p. 2). The HGVs are For around two decades, several coun- carried to the upper layers of the atmosphere tries around the world (GMTFF, 2019) - 90 - Safety & Defense Vol. 6(2) (2020) by rocket missiles, which give them an ap- pose no risk to aircrews, are unstoppable propriate initial velocity. and phenomenally accurate, can yield an im- The second sub-variety are hypersonic pact equal to five to ten tons of high explo- cruise missiles (HCMs). Hypersonic missiles sive with no warhead at all yet be capable of typically operate using air-breathing super- delivering a nuclear bomb, and can reach sonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) engines nearly every coordinate on the surface of the to accelerate and maintain missile velocity. earth within 30 minutes” (Simon, 2020). For A scramjet usually begins operating at Mach this reason, it is recognized as a threat that 4 or Mach 5. Therefore, a hypersonic cruise can change the perception of the implemen- missile must first be accelerated to Mach 4 tation of air strikes and the way of achieving or Mach 5 by other means, such as rocket en- strategic goals of military operations. This is gines (Hruby, 2019, p. 18). influenced by the possibilities of the hyper- HCMs could be ground-, air- or ship- sonic weapons due to which “they are able to launched and would likely fly at an altitude evade and conceal their precise targets from of 20 to 30 km, beyond the reach of most defenses until just seconds before impact. current air-to-surface missile defence sys- This leaves targeted states with almost no tems (Brehm, Weeler, 2019, p.2). The prin- time to respond” (Speier, 2018). cipal advantages of an HCM would be its Taking into account the geostrategic lo- speed and maneuverability. These cruise cation of Poland, after analyzing the devel- missiles are difficult to defend against be- opment trends of hypersonic weapons, it can cause of their unpredictable trajectories. be concluded that the most serious air threat Both hypersonic types of weapons can carry related to the use of this type of weapon is a nuclear warhead, a conventional explosive likely from the Russian systems of this warhead, or no warhead at all, instead rely- weapon. It may result from the use of both ing on sheer kinetic force to destroy its tar- hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) and hyper- get. There are many other potential types of sonic cruise missiles (HCMs) owned by the hypersonic weapon being developed. These Russian Federation. include more complex missile systems, The first strategic type of Russian hyper- manned and unmanned reusable air vehi- sonic weapon is the Avangard (Vanguard) cles, and space launch systems (Speier, 2017, hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, which is part p. 4). of an intercontinental ballistic missile The threat of using hypersonic weapons (ICBM) missile complex equipped with a hy- in an armed conflict, resulting from one personic glide warhead (Trimble, 2019, p. party’s possession of these is a factor that 20). Each ICBM is armed with one hyper- creates a completely new dimension of air sonic boost-glide warhead. Avangard is car- threat. This is because hypersonic weapons ried to its suborbital apogee of around 100 combine the speed of a ballistic missile with km by a ballistic missile. Once boosted to its the maneuvering capabilities of a cruise mis- suborbital apogee, the glide vehicle sepa- sile. In the opinion of the US military ana- rates from its rocket. It then cruises down to- lysts “while the designed speed of the hyper- wards its target through the atmosphere and sonic missile is faster than that of sound, its can reach speeds of up to Mach 20 (6.28 advantage lies in its enhanced maneuvera- km/s) and can maneuver (MDPA, 2019). bility and smooth flight path, which is much Therefore, Avangard's trajectory is unpre- harder to track than that of traditional mis- dictable and makes intercept attempts diffi- siles” (Osborn, 2017).