Thankfully, Washington and its allies do have options on the table for dealing with hypersonic weapons. Experts at CSBA back in 2014 explained that “options for bolstering defenses include the electromagnetic railgun and directed-energy technologies currently under development.” Also, they noted that additional “countermeasures include using jammers or other electronic countermeasure techniques to deny targeting data to the attacker or to confuse the hypersonic glide vehicle’s own sensors as it attempts to hit its target” could be helpful.

However, common sense would suggest an even better idea: making sure Washington is further ahead in the research and deployment of such weapons–ensuring Beijing is also confronted with all of the above potential challenges as well.

Harry J. Kazianis (@Grecianformula) is a Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the Center for the National Interest as well as at The Potomac Foundation and author of the new monograph The Tao of A2/AD: China’s Rationale for the Creation of Anti-Access, now available on Amazon here.

This piece first appeared in AsiaTimes here.