Hypersonic missile 3D model

A hypersonic weapon is a weapon that can travel and maneuver significantly during atmospheric flight at hypersonic speed, which is defined as above Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). These typically fall into two main categories: hypersonic glide vehicles (boost-glide weapons), and hypersonic cruise missiles (airbreathing weapons).

Below Mach 1, weapons would be characterized as subsonic, and above Mach 1, as supersonic. At extremely high speeds, air in the shock wave is ionized into a plasma, which makes control and communication difficult.