Vice Admiral of the US Navy John Hill called the only hypersonic missile SM-6
Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) missiles can be used against hypersonic weapons, writes The Drive, referring to the statement of Vice Admiral of the US Navy (Navy) John Hill.
"The whole idea was to handle the maneuver at high speed. [SM-6] is really the only hypersonic defense in the country," the military called the only American hypersonic missile.
The publication reminds that currently Americans have two variants of SM-6 - Block I and Block IA. The third version, Block IB, is in development. According to The Drive, the Vice Admiral probably meant exactly the Block I and IA missiles.
The publication notes that the ability of an anti-missile to develop a speed of more than five Mach numbers does not mean its ability to effectively act against all hypersonic threats, especially maneuvering ones. The publication recalls that in 2021, during the SM-6 tests, it was not possible to hit a conventional ballistic target.
In December 2021, the publication 19FortyFive claimed that Russia does not need the Avangard hypersonic missile system, since the latter is capable of breaking through the US missile defense system (ABM) without it.