Modern surface-to-air missiles are only distant conceptual descendants of the unrotated projectile. A contact or hit-to-kill approach demands that the interceptor meet the target directly. A fragmentation approach instead detonates early enough to spread a destructive envelope into the target's path. Higher closing speeds make the geometry, fuze timing, guidance code, and fragment pattern harder to coordinate. Hypersonic interception is therefore a fire-control and timing problem as much as a contest between headline speeds.
Notable Point · 57:28-1:00:01
High-speed interception depends on fuzing and geometry
An interceptor can strike directly or place fragments in a target's path, but either method requires increasingly precise timing as closing speed rises.