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Russia has put a lot of effort into their hypersonic weapons programs and it was thought that they were well ahead of similar US efforts. Their hypersonic inventory has things like

-Air launched missiles from fighter jets
-Short range ballistic missiles
-Other land- and submarine-launched rockets

What made Putin brag about them was their ability to hit speeds of Mach 5+ while still retaining the ability to maneuver in the atmosphere. One class of their rockets was specifically designed to defeat the American THAAD system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense).

As the war has ground on Putin's begun using these in the Ukraine. There's a problem, though - we've given the Ukrainians Patriot missiles.

And on a recent raid, the Patriot - a system introduced roughly 30 years ago - went 18 for 18 in shooting down Putin's vaunted wonder weapons. Ooops.

So he's doing what any thug would do - blaming his engineers for leaking secrets:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12093811/...

Russia detains three hypersonic rocket scientists as Kremlin is left reeling over claims 'dagger' missiles were shot down by Ukraine's Patriot defence system
Dr Valery Zvegintsev, 78, is the latest of three prominent scientists to be arrested
All three face treason charges despite outcry from their scientific colleagues
It comes as Ukraine claimed it shot down several Russian hypersonic missiles

Daily Mail is a "shouty" source (that was told to me by a Brit). But it's easy enough to verify the claim as it is in multiple sources:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-says-...

Reminds me of the movie One, Two, Three. (Kommisar) "In Soviet rocket program we have two buttons." (zealot) "TWO BUTTONS!" (Kommisar) "Yes, one to blow up missile, one to blow up scientist."

I think it's not unreasonable that these missiles could be intercepted. You can't really catch up to a hypersonic missile after it has passed you. But if it's coming toward you, it's simple math to figure out how fast the target is going, the speed of your missile, and plot an intercept point. That's what the onboard electronics of an anti-missile missile does. You just have less time to do those calcs before the hypersonic missile is gone.

That's what the onboard electronics of an anti-missile missile does. You just have less time to do those calcs before the hypersonic missile is gone.

It's the problem of hitting a bullet with another bullet, made more complicated by the fact that the first bullet isn't following a set trajectory based on ballistics: it's actually maneuvering in the atmosphere.

Evidently the Patriots are up to the job, though! Makes me wonder how good THAAD really is, then...

It's the problem of hitting a bullet with another bullet, made more complicated by the fact that the first bullet isn't following a set trajectory based on ballistics: it's actually maneuvering in the atmosphere.

They both are, true. But if the onboard computer is fast enough, it can make the adjustments. Which apparently the Patriots are able to do.

It's also quite possible that the hypersonics aren't able to maneuver as well as advertised. The Count was the aeronautical engineer, not me, and I don't know the details. I would think if it tried to make major adjustments that it would become unstable and tumble.

An interesting link about the missiles.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/16/world/russ...

It has been unclear whether even the Patriot could intercept hypersonic missiles, which were thought by many experts to be too fast to be detected by radars in time for traditional air-defense systems to respond. But on May 4, Ukraine's air force said it had for the first time managed to intercept a Kinzhal using a Patriot, a confirmation that took more than 24 hours.

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