Defense Primer: Hypersonic Boost-Glide Weapons

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Defense is pursuing two types of hypersonic weapons technologies: boost-glide systems that place a maneuverable glide vehicle atop a ballistic missile or rocket booster, and cruise missiles that would use highspeed, air-breathing engines known as scramjets to travel to hypersonic speeds. This In Focus addresses only the first of these technologies.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2020
Accession Number
AD1170009

Entities

People

  • Amy F. Woolf
  • Kelley M . Sayler

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Breathing
  • Anti-Ballistic Missiles
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Ballistic Trajectories
  • Boost Glide Vehicles
  • Booster Rocket Engines
  • Congress
  • Cruise Missiles
  • Department Of Defense
  • Flight
  • Hypersonic Glide Vehicles
  • Hypersonic Weapons
  • Nuclear Warheads
  • Prompt Global Strike
  • Reentry Vehicles
  • Rockets
  • Trajectories
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • Vehicles
  • Warfare
  • Weapons

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Missile Defense Systems.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics