---
title: "The Pentagon Needs Help Intercepting “Hypersonic” Nukes"
description: "DARPA hopes to find a way to counter Russia's missiles that can allegedly travel 20 times the speed of sound. It won't be easy."
date: "2018-11-13"
modified: "2018-11-13"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/pentagon-darpa-intercepting-hypersonic-nukes"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "DARPA"
  - "hypersonic weapons"
  - "missiles"
  - "Russia"
---

# The Pentagon Needs Help Intercepting “Hypersonic” Nukes

![DARPA hopes to find a way to counter Russia's missiles that can allegedly travel 20 times the speed of sound. It won't be easy.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/pentagon-darpa-intercepting-hypersonic-nukes.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: U.S. Air Force\</em\>*

## No Dumb Ideas!

By 2020, the Russian military claims it will have [nuclear missiles](<https://futurism.com/4-things-russias-new-weapons>) capable of gliding across the upper atmosphere — too low for most satellite detection systems — before [plummeting back to Earth](<https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1025166/ww3-news-us-glide-breaker-hypersonic-weapon-defence-program-russia>) at 20 times the speed of sound.

This puts the rest of the world in a pickle because there’s no good way to stop these hypersonic weapons. So last week, according to *[The National Interest](<https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/darpa-looking-way-shoot-down-hypersonic-weapons-35942>)*, DARPA put out a call for proposals for [Project Glide Breaker](<https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=ba100893931fb47264d09521173f7435&tab=core&_cview=0>) — an initiative it hopes will result in an interceptor capable of stopping [hypersonic missiles and vehicles](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hypersonic-jet-boeing>).

## Space Needle

These plans to build an interceptor capable of stopping a hypersonic weapon seem far-fetched. As Kelsey Atherton [wrote for *Task & Purpose*](<https://taskandpurpose.com/drones-arent-fucking-magic-people/>), there has yet to be a single missile defense system that succeeded without being seriously rigged.

That aligns with *The National Interest*’s reporting, which suggests that it would cost far too much to effectively shield the U.S. in this way. Rather, the best bet for Project Glide Breaker would be *just effective* enough to deter attacks by blocking *just enough* missiles that an adversary wouldn’t be able to reliably count on any one given missile reaching its target.

## Use Your Words

All of this is to prepare for an all-out war, nuclear or otherwise, that hasn't happened yet.

While it'd be nice to have a shield in the event that such a conflict arose, there's a world of difference between a country maybe someday building a weapon against which it is difficult to defend and ever expecting that weapon to be used. Right now, we’re far away from the latter.

**READ MORE:** [DARPA Is Looking for a Way To Shoot Down Hypersonic Weapons](<https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/darpa-looking-way-shoot-down-hypersonic-weapons-35942>) \[*The National Interest*\]

***More on avoidable warfare: [AI Could Start A Nuclear War. But Only If We Let AI Start A Nuclear War](<https://futurism.com/ai-could-start-a-nuclear-war-but-thats-only-if-we-put-ai-in-charge-of-starting-nuclear-war>)***

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)