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Israeli defence company Rafael has unveiled a full-size model of its Sky Sonic interceptor, designed to destroy hypersonic missiles travelling at more than five times the speed of sound.
The model was presented at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) defence exhibition in Washington, which opened on Monday, offering a rare public glimpse of a project first announced in June 2023.
Hypersonic missiles pose a growing challenge to air defence systems because of their extreme speed and, in some cases, their ability to manoeuvre and change direction during flight, making them harder to detect, track and intercept than conventional ballistic missiles.
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