The Hypersonic Missile Race

The hypersonic age has arrived; whether it becomes an era of uncontrolled competition and crisis or one of managed stability and restraint depends on choices being made now and in the near future. This book has attempted to illuminate the challenges, analyze the dynamics, and propose responses.

The outcomes, however, will be determined not by analysis but by action—or inaction—in the world’s capitals, military establishments, and public squares. The stakes could hardly be higher.


The fundamental choice facing humanity is whether we will control hypersonic weapons or whether they will control us—whether these tools will serve political purposes we consciously choose or whether their technological imperatives will drive us toward outcomes no one desires.

The evidence from recent decades suggests a troubling drift toward the latter: technologies developing according to their own logic, military organizations pursuing capabilities because they can rather than because strategy demands them, political leaders locked into competitive dynamics they cannot escape, and international institutions too weak to constrain the forces they face.

Yet resignation to this drift represents both intellectual laziness and moral failure. We are not condemned to repeat past mistakes; we possess agency to choose different paths. The accumulated knowledge of strategic studies, arms control, international relations, and related fields provides conceptual tools for managing hypersonic challenges if we choose to use them. The institutions, alliances, and diplomatic channels necessary for cooperation exist, however weakened. What is required is the political will to act on what we know and the courage to prioritize long-term survival over short-term advantage.