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Hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) is a type of
Hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) is a type of warhead
A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb.
Classification
Types of warheads include:
*Explos ...
for ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within ...
that can maneuver and glide at hypersonic
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since i ...
speed. It is used on ballistic missiles to significantly change their trajectories. Conventional ballistic missiles follow a predictable ballistic trajectory and are vulnerable to interception by the latest anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems. HGV makes them unpredictable, allowing them to evade air defenses. Hypersonic glide vehicles are currently subject of an arm race.
Countermeasures
Boost-glide weapons are generally designed to avoid existing missile defense systems, either by continually maneuvering or by flying at lower altitudes to reduce warning time. This generally makes such weapons easier to intercept using defensive systems intended for lower-altitude "low-tier" targets. Flying at lower speeds than short-range ballistic missile warheads makes them easier to attack. Those that approach with very low terminal attack profiles are even subject to attack by modern hypervelocity guns and railguns. However, Russian sources claim that its Avangard HGV travels at Mach 27 and "constantly changes its course and altitude while it flies through the atmosphere, chaotically zigzagging on its path to its target, making it impossible to predict the weapon's location", thus making it supposedly "invulnerable to interception".Existing or in development
* Avangard (developed and deployed) * DF-ZF (developed and deployed) * Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (experimental) * AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) (in development) * OpFires (in development) * Common-Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) (in development for US Army (LRHW) and US Navy Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS)) * HGV-202F (in development) * Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (HVGP) (in development) * VMAX (in development) * Hwasong-8 (in development) * Unnamed (built and tested)See also
*Hypersonic flight
Hypersonic flight is flight through the atmosphere below altitudes of about 90 km at speeds greater than Mach 5, a speed where dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exist. Speeds of Mach 25+ have been achie ...
* Hypersonic weapon
* Maneuverable reentry vehicle
* Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle
A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with in ...
* Non-ballistic atmospheric entry
References
{{reflist Hypersonic aircraft Ballistic missiles