Admiral Michael Gilday, a US Navy official, stated that the US is also working on directed energy technologies to combat modern missile systems.
Follow chopnews to get more updates
US developed directed energy systems
One of the top US Navy officials expressed significant concern over China and Russia’s recent advancements in hypersonic weapon technology and stated that the US is working on directed energy technologies to counter modern missile systems.
It should be noted that directed energy systems use lasers or microwave transmitters to disable an electrical system or destroy it.
Admiral Michael Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, stated that the US Navy has prioritised developing high-energy lasers or high-power microwaves during his remarks at the Heritage Foundation event on Thursday.
He claims that the primary goal of the sophisticated system is to completely eradicate any threat posed by Moscow and Beijing. “From a defensive stance, the threat is our main concern. We’re not ignoring it, Gilday said, according to CNN.
He said that hypersonic missiles have a maximum speed of five times the speed of sound and that the sophisticated Chinese and Russian hypersonic missiles provide a special challenge to US defence systems.
They are significantly harder to detect and intercept since they can travel quicker than conventional missiles and don’t follow predictable trajectories like ballistic missiles do. Hypersonic weaponry has advanced significantly in Russia and China.
“Both Russia and China are developing those capabilities and will be fielding those capabilities quickly,” he said, adding that they are a serious issue.
While Beijing conducted a test of a hypersonic glide vehicle in 2021, the top US Navy officer said that Russia used its hypersonic Kinzhal missile against Ukraine.
The United States is concentrating on developing hypersonic missile defence.
Vice Admiral Jon A. Hill of the US Navy expressed the same worry in May of this year.
Hill claims that China and Russia are both working on the development of sophisticated cruise missiles that can be fired from ships, submarines, aircraft, and ground launchers.
He said that in order to protect the United States, its deployed forces, and allies against missile assaults during all phases of flight, the Navy and the Missile Defence Agency worked together to develop and deploy a layered missile defence system.
He stated that MDA expects to launch two interoperable prototype satellites in March 2023 in collaboration with the U.S. Space Force and Space Development Agency.
He emphasised that if successful, it will be a new and crucial capability in hypersonic defence and that the satellites will gather sensor tracking data to ensure that dim targets, or cruise missiles, can be located from space.
You may also like: