US Stomps on the Gas in Hypersonic Missile Race

Gliding along the edge of space and maneuvering at one mile per second, hypersonics are the latest must-have superpower weapon

The U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle emerges from its rocket nose cone and prepares to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere, in this illustration. Courtesy of DARPA

It’s the punch you don’t see coming—the boxer’s adage goes—that knocks you out.

Hypersonic missiles are that latest military punch. Fast, yes. But more importantly, unpredictable, slipping past the digital eyes of military tech that watches for ballistic haymakers swinging out into space, not for glide vehicles skipping along the edge of the atmosphere.