Hypersonic Weapon as a New Challenge for the Anti-aircraft Defense Command and Control System

Piotr Malinowski

doi:10.37105/sd.87

Abstract

The intensification of the air threat resulting from the emergence of hypersonic weapons in the immediate vicinity of Poland has become a significant challenge for the Polish armed forces, including anti-aircraft defense. The capabilities of the new type of weapon determine not only the need to modernize and acquire systems designed to engage aerial targets, but also the command and control systems that control them. Due to the nature and the limited scope of the article, the deliberations presented in it are generalized results of a research on the scale of the threat posed by hypersonic weapons in the airspace and the need to modernize anti-aircraft defense command and control subsystems, which may be involved in combating them as part of the national air defense system. The presented conclusions also concern the problems of multiplying the current level of automation of the command and control subsystem. This is related to the need for the effectiveness of the military decision-making process as well as uninterrupted and efficient cooperation with the national and allied elements of the air reconnaissance and air defense assets subsystems, including the components of missile defense, which is predestined to engage hypersonic weapons.

Highlights

The advent of the era of hypersonic air threats in tactical operations is redefining the requirements for the entire anti-aircraft defense system, including its command and control subsystem
The author focused on solving the following research problem: How do the capabilities of hypersonic weapons affect the needs of modernization and automation of the anti-aircraft defense command and control subsystem? A mixed research method, based on the elements of text and literature exploratory research, simulation of anti-aircraft defense combat capabilities, experiment during military exercises was used to solve the indicated problem during the research, the generalized results of which are included in the article
Future strategic and operational anti-missile systems are indicated as defensive systems against hypersonic weapons, the participation of the antiaircraft defense system in this project may increase in the future

Summary

Introduction

The advent of the era of hypersonic air threats in tactical operations is redefining the requirements for the entire anti-aircraft defense system, including its command and control subsystem. The desire to intensify the automation of anti-aircraft defense command and control processes results from the complexity of effective combat against aerial targets that are so difficult to engage. It is a requirement for the dynamization of operations on the contemporary battlefield where hypersonic weapons pose significant air threats. Its current introduction into the strike assets arsenal of several armies around the world reveals the scale of the new threat It determines, as shown by the conducted research, an urgent need to achieve an appropriate level of defense against this type of air threats, which will be influenced by the efficient functioning of the command and control subsystems. The author focused on solving the following research problem: How do the capabilities of hypersonic weapons affect the needs of modernization and automation of the anti-aircraft defense command and control subsystem? A mixed research method, based on the elements of text and literature exploratory research (analysis), simulation of anti-aircraft defense combat capabilities, experiment during military exercises was used to solve the indicated problem during the research, the generalized results of which are included in the article

Hypersonic weapons as an air threat

Conclusion