Hypersonic missiles could trigger World War 3, warns renowned US think tank

Washington : If hypersonic missiles, capable of travelling 25 times faster than passenger plane, are obtained by rival nations or terrorist organizations could possibly trigger the third world war, warns a US based study group. The study group has recommended that to avoid the third world war, US, Russia and China, which produces such hypersonic missiles should agree to not sell these missiles to any other nations.

US, Russia and China have reached a final stage of developing hypersonic missiles. These missiles, are designed to travel five to ten times faster than the speed of the sound which is nearly 25,000 kilometre per hour would enhance the military strength of US, Russia and China. These hypersonic missiles can destroy air borne enemy missiles in matter of few seconds.

Two trials each of “Falcon” missile developed by DARPA and “X-51 Waveraider” by US based Boing Company are completed. Russia, after the initial trials of missiles KH-90 and KH-80 hypersonic missiles, has developed a new hypersonic cruise missile “Zircon” and is making strong efforts to induct the missile in its military armoury. China is building a hypersonic missile “DF- ZF” to overcome the anti-ballistic interception systems to effectively target US aircraft carrier warships.

These three countries are estimated to be ready and equipped with hypersonic missiles by next year. However, Rand Corporation, the study group based in US in its report has put forward the danger of hypersonic missiles. The study group claims that hypersonic missiles capable of hitting targets thousands of kilometres away in six minutes has potential to change the balance of power and the outcome of any war. Hence the report of RAND corporation terms the hypersonic missile as dangerous for all nations.

If the hypersonic missile fall in the hands countries with rogue regimes, air defence systems of any other countries could be challenged due to its ability to evade missile defence systems. In such an eventuality, it would be a major security threat to all nations, causing instability in many world areas. RAND Corporation has warned of such possibilities which could trigger the third world war. To explain their case, they have cited examples of the escalating tension between Iran- Israel and North Korea and Japan. The study group has expressed concern that the escalating tension in both these areas could lead to to war due to hypersonic missile.

Assessing the risk, the study group has suggested that US, Russia and China should refrain from selling hypersonic missiles to other countries or organizations and has appealed for international cooperation in controlling hypersonic missile proliferation of technology, subsystems and necessary material to ensure the hypersonic missiles do not end up in the hands of dangerous countries or organizations.

Meanwhile along with US, Russia and China as per recent news published, countries like India, Japan and Australia are in the race to develop hypersonic missiles.