A couple of stories published by Reuters over the past few weeks have documented the increased scrutiny that Russian hypersonic missile

specialists have faced from their own government. And on May 24th, it was divulged that the director

of the Siberian Christianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics has been arrested

on suspicion of treason alongside two of his colleagues. Russian security

services have accused them of sharing hypersonic missile technologies with China. This is interesting

for a few reasons, among them, the fact that Russia has been nudged more deeply into China's orbit

over the past few years, that nudging growing into a bit of a push after Putin

launched his invasion of Ukraine, with all the economic and military consequences that triggered

in relatively short order. But it's also interesting because hypersonic missiles have been heralded

by some as a disruptive technology that could, if used appropriately, completely shift power dynamics

in some of the most strategically vital and tense regions around the world. Case in point,

the deployment of hypersonic missiles along the Chinese coast overlooking the hotly contested

South China Sea could, in theory, render many of the West's defenses in this

area impotent. It could also make bringing aircraft carriers and other expensive hard targets

within range a questionable decision, as the anti-missile defenses that would typically protect

such things from most outside assaults would, again, in theory, be unable to defend against

this type of missile.

Worth highlighting, too, is that if China does ever decide to invade Taiwan to bring it into

its governmental fold, it's expected the West and its Pacific allies would attempt

to bring this sort of firepower within range of China, so hypersonic missile technology could,

conceivably at least, make such an invasion more likely and more likely to be successful.

The reason hypersonic missiles have been heralded as potentially disruptive is that they move just

...