Hypersonic missiles create plasma sheaths that blind enemy radar
Technology
At speeds exceeding four thousand miles per hour, air molecules literally tear apart, wrapping the weapon in a ghost-like shield that swallows incoming signals.
When a missile like the Iskander-K screams through the atmosphere at six times the speed of sound, it doesn't just cut through the air—it transforms it. The sheer friction generates such intense heat that it strips electrons from air molecules, creating a thin layer of ionized gas known as a plasma sheath. This glowing envelope acts like a physical barrier for radio waves, absorbing or deflecting radar pulses so effectively that the weapon becomes nearly invisible to ground-based defenses.