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India has recently test-fired Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV), a new class of technological feat, which will pave the way for missiles production that will travel at six times the speed of sound. Hypersonic missiles could travel at high-speed like ballistic missiles and can maneuver like cruise missiles.
For various reasons, such missiles have long been included in the wish list of Russian, Chinese and American military establishment. Now India is following the same path because hypersonic missiles can be launched by a country with a purpose to hit rival states within minutes. In the most advance Western military powers and elsewhere, no current defenses can intercept hypersonic missiles which move too swiftly and maneuvers on the unpredictable route. Indian extravagant expenses on high-speed missile technology will create strategic instability and initiate a swift arms race, especially in space and missile domains, which will ultimately generate a whole new security challenge in the South Asian context.
Hypersonic missiles are creating a strategic miscalculation that they could provide the incentives to fulfill prerequisites of air supremacy. In an age of expensive, divisive and largely futile use of ground forces and actual but not necessary "strategic" challenges, the hypersonic weapons are valuable but liable assets. Hypersonic missiles create an ambiguous line between conventional and strategic weapons. These weapons have the ability to aggravate the situation at a level where their widespread use could be justifiable with respect to precision and limited collateral damage. Developing a vast new arsenal of high-speed weaponry will make rival states insecure because these weapons could deprive them of the opportunity to effectively deter a major military crisis. If nations have weapons which can reach the targets within minutes, then their policy makers could explore the advantages of preemptive strikes and unintended conflict could result with the possible use of strategic weapons.
The classical way of learning crisis management is becoming irrelevant after the introduction of hypersonic technology. Hypothetically, if India launches a hypersonic missile under the pretext of a false flag operation then the time frame for Pakistan is extremely compressed in terms of determining the appropriate response. At this point, the outlook is bleak in terms of strategic stability because the decision-making time-frame is incredibly short to make rational military/political choices. In the backdrop of intense disputes, lack of confidence-building measures and uncertainty about the other side’s intentions, hypersonic technology will disturb the volatile deterrence equation in South Asia.
South Asia could soon find itself in a fresh arms race as deadly as the Cold War at a very important juncture when the world is drifting away from arms control efforts and the initiative to create a new START agreement is becoming a distant dream. The most prominent threat from the hypersonic missiles is that they are emerging at a crucial time when arms control negotiations in the world are crumbling. Worldwide there has to be a multilateral deal to restrict the production and use of hypersonic arsenals, but the United States, which depicts itself a champion of nonproliferation, is despondently pursuing realist perspective in this regard.
Hypersonic missiles are First Use weapons which exacerbate an offensive moral danger for states that are involved in military interference with rival states because these weapons eliminate obstacles to combat. There are several temptations, especially in Modi's Hindutva approach, to use the hypersonic missile in future conflicts. Therefore, the international community must express serious apprehensions over the unimpeded building and development of missile tech by India. Nevertheless, Western powers, especially the US, are ignorant of the fact that it will disturb deterrence stability in South Asia.
Another feature of speed supplementary with these weapon systems is the urgency to produce and deploy hypersonic weapons without taking completely into account their planned applications and strategic effects. Consequently, given the growing risks of possible future use of hypersonic missiles, policy-makers, security experts and the civil society within India must pay more attention to them while evaluating the dangers associated with hypersonic missile proliferation in South Asia. At global level, the missile race initiated by India in South Asia have serious rather damaging consequences on the nonproliferation regime besides compelling the other regional states to take counter-measures in terms of force modernization.
The Nation
For various reasons, such missiles have long been included in the wish list of Russian, Chinese and American military establishment. Now India is following the same path because hypersonic missiles can be launched by a country with a purpose to hit rival states within minutes. In the most advance Western military powers and elsewhere, no current defenses can intercept hypersonic missiles which move too swiftly and maneuvers on the unpredictable route. Indian extravagant expenses on high-speed missile technology will create strategic instability and initiate a swift arms race, especially in space and missile domains, which will ultimately generate a whole new security challenge in the South Asian context.
Hypersonic missiles are creating a strategic miscalculation that they could provide the incentives to fulfill prerequisites of air supremacy. In an age of expensive, divisive and largely futile use of ground forces and actual but not necessary "strategic" challenges, the hypersonic weapons are valuable but liable assets. Hypersonic missiles create an ambiguous line between conventional and strategic weapons. These weapons have the ability to aggravate the situation at a level where their widespread use could be justifiable with respect to precision and limited collateral damage. Developing a vast new arsenal of high-speed weaponry will make rival states insecure because these weapons could deprive them of the opportunity to effectively deter a major military crisis. If nations have weapons which can reach the targets within minutes, then their policy makers could explore the advantages of preemptive strikes and unintended conflict could result with the possible use of strategic weapons.
The classical way of learning crisis management is becoming irrelevant after the introduction of hypersonic technology. Hypothetically, if India launches a hypersonic missile under the pretext of a false flag operation then the time frame for Pakistan is extremely compressed in terms of determining the appropriate response. At this point, the outlook is bleak in terms of strategic stability because the decision-making time-frame is incredibly short to make rational military/political choices. In the backdrop of intense disputes, lack of confidence-building measures and uncertainty about the other side’s intentions, hypersonic technology will disturb the volatile deterrence equation in South Asia.
South Asia could soon find itself in a fresh arms race as deadly as the Cold War at a very important juncture when the world is drifting away from arms control efforts and the initiative to create a new START agreement is becoming a distant dream. The most prominent threat from the hypersonic missiles is that they are emerging at a crucial time when arms control negotiations in the world are crumbling. Worldwide there has to be a multilateral deal to restrict the production and use of hypersonic arsenals, but the United States, which depicts itself a champion of nonproliferation, is despondently pursuing realist perspective in this regard.
Hypersonic missiles are First Use weapons which exacerbate an offensive moral danger for states that are involved in military interference with rival states because these weapons eliminate obstacles to combat. There are several temptations, especially in Modi's Hindutva approach, to use the hypersonic missile in future conflicts. Therefore, the international community must express serious apprehensions over the unimpeded building and development of missile tech by India. Nevertheless, Western powers, especially the US, are ignorant of the fact that it will disturb deterrence stability in South Asia.
Another feature of speed supplementary with these weapon systems is the urgency to produce and deploy hypersonic weapons without taking completely into account their planned applications and strategic effects. Consequently, given the growing risks of possible future use of hypersonic missiles, policy-makers, security experts and the civil society within India must pay more attention to them while evaluating the dangers associated with hypersonic missile proliferation in South Asia. At global level, the missile race initiated by India in South Asia have serious rather damaging consequences on the nonproliferation regime besides compelling the other regional states to take counter-measures in terms of force modernization.
The Nation
