First Strike Hypersonic Weapons: The End of the “MAD” Doctrine and Peace for Our Time?

Abstract

Since the conclusion of the Second World War, the world's great powers (i.e., the United States, Russia, and China) have been locked in an escalating race to develop the next game‐changing weapon. The pivotal weapon examined in this paper is hypersonics. The desire to master hypersonic weaponry is particularly strong amongst the “lesser powers” or “Davids” (e.g., Iran and North Korea), as they hold the belief that hypersonics are the “Assassin's Mace” that will grant them the critical first strike advantage against the militarily superior great powers. This study examines the intensifying “hypersonics arms race” between these nations and more importantly, the potential of this increasingly contentious rivalry to destabilize the tenuous world peace purportedly effected by the “Mutual Assured Destruction” (“MAD”) doctrine. Even if this “hypersonics arms race” does not lead to another global conflict, it does serve to flame regional tensions in the Middle East and Northeast Asia, ultimately setting the scene for proxy wars, as the great powers could ply their respective allies with hypersonics technology, with the aim of furthering their own strategic agendas.