IT'S OBVIOUS WHY the militaries of the world want missiles that can follow erratic paths at low altitude while flying at five times the speed of sound, eluding any chance at detection or interception. • “Think of it as delivering a pizza, except it's not a pizza,” says Bradley Wheaton, a specialist in hypersonics at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Maryland. “In the United States, just 15 minutes can cover the East Coast; a really fast missile takes 20 minutes to get to the West Coast. At these speeds, you have a factor of 50 increase in the area covered per unit of time.” • So the question isn't why the great powers are pursuing hypersonic arms, but why they are doing so now. Quick answer: They are once again locked in an arms race. • The wider world first heard of this type of weaponry in March 2018, when Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech describing his country's plans for a nuclear-powered cruise missile that could fly around the world at blinding speed, then snake around hills and dales to a target. His bold assertions have been questioned, particularly the part about nuclear power. Even so, a year later a nuclear accident killed seven people near a testing range off the northern coast of Russia, and U.S. intelligence officials speculated that it involved hypersonic experiments.

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在最初的速度军备竞赛结束几十年后，飞越 5 马赫又回来了：走向高超音速

很明显，为什么世界各国的军队都希望导弹能够在低空沿着不稳定的路径飞行，同时以五倍于音速的速度飞行，避免任何被发现或拦截的机会。• 马里兰州约翰霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室 (APL) 的高超声速专家 Bradley Wheaton 说：“把它想象成送披萨，但它不是披萨。” “在美国，只需 15 分钟就可以覆盖东海岸；一枚非常快的导弹需要 20 分钟才能到达西海岸。在这些速度下，单位时间覆盖的面积增加了 50 倍。” • 所以问题不是大国为什么要追求高超音速武器，而是他们现在为什么要这样做。快速回答：他们再次陷入军备竞赛。• 更广阔的世界于 2018 年 3 月首次听说此类武器，当俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京发表演讲，描述他的国家的核动力巡航导弹计划，这种导弹可以以惊人的速度环绕世界飞行，然后绕过丘陵和山谷到达目标。他的大胆断言受到质疑，尤其是关于核能的部分。即便如此，一年后在俄罗斯北部海岸附近的一个试验场附近发生了核事故，造成 7 人死亡，美国情报官员推测这涉及高超音速实验。