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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

North Korea tests another new hypersonic weapon: reports

Friday, January 7, 2022

Categories: ASCF News Missile Defense

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.space.com/north-korea-hypersonic-weapon-test-january-2022

People watch a North Korean missile launch on a television at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 5, 2022. (Image credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

North Korea's hypersonic weapons program appears to be ramping up.

The rogue nation claims that it conducted a successful test of a new hypersonic vehicle on Wednesday (Jan. 5), its second such trial in just over three months.

The vehicle aced a 75-mile (120 kilometers) lateral maneuver and "precisely hit" a target 435 miles (700 km) from the launch site, according to a statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"The test launch clearly demonstrated the control and stability of the hypersonic gliding warhead, which combined the multi-stage gliding jump flight and the strong lateral movement," the KCNA statement reads.

North Korea performed its first-ever hypersonic test launch on Sept. 28. That trial involved a missile called the Hwasong 8, which apparently carried a different type of hypersonic vehicle than the one that flew on Wednesday.

"It looks like the North Koreans identified hypersonic gliders as a military requirement (probably because they perceive this to be effective at dealing with BMD [ballistic missile defense]). After that, they likely authorized at least two separate development programs (Hwasong 8, this one)," Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Nuclear Policy Program, said via Twitter on Wednesday.

Hypersonic vehicles by definition travel at least five times faster than the speed of sound, or Mach 5. But speed isn't their main selling point; maneuverability is. Because they're so nimble, hypersonics are tougher to track and knock out than intercontinental ballistic missiles, which follow predictable trajectories.

The United States, Russia and China have prioritized the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years, viewing them as potential game-changers in conflicts to come. North Korea has apparently made the same calculation.

North Korea is far from a great power, but the rest of the world tracks its missile and weapons programs closely because it possesses nuclear weapons and is run by a dictator, Kim Jong Un, who is prone to making florid threats against the United States, Japan, South Korea and other perceived enemies.

The United Nations Security Council has sought to defang North Korea, imposing numerous weapons-related sanctions over the past decade and a half. But North Korea continues to flout such measures. For example, the nation conducted four test launches last fall, including the Hwasong 8 liftoff and an October trial involving a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

"It's truly regrettable that North Korea has repeatedly launched missiles since last year," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan said on Wednesday, according to The New York Times. "The Japanese government will strengthen warning and surveillance more than ever."

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