This essay was written by Lower Sixth Form student Ben Tabberner as an Independent Learning Assignment (ILA). It was shortlisted for the 2023 ILA/ ORIS award. The following provides a short introduction to the full essay:
“It’s a high time for Hypersonic Missiles”1 is a line from one of Sam Fender’s best-selling songs. Looking at the line in the context of the song, it is a plea to society to do something meaningful with their lives because hypersonic missiles have the potential to destroy life as we know it. For example, a hypersonic missile launched from Moscow now could strike London with a nuclear warhead in under 10 minutes. Such missiles are disrupting the relative security that the world has felt since the end of the Cold War. Since ex-United States Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara’s suggestion of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) in the 1960s the world has been living in relative comfort in the belief that no superpower will strike another for fear of ‘Mutual Destruction’. Hypersonic missiles may allow any country who has them to make a nuclear strike with more success. Mutual Assured Destruction relies on different countries’ military forces being equal – hypersonic missiles disrupt this balance because of the reduced response time and difficulty of defending against them. They have put the world in a precarious position; the ‘Destruction’ in Mutual Assured Destruction may not be ‘Mutual’ at all. Is it therefore time to look for a new way forward which will give the world a new era of relative peace?
To view Ben’s full article, follow this link below:
The Unchained Library 