How the hypersonic race started. In the days after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, hypersonic weapons were sold as a form of “conventional prompt global strike,” fulfilling the supposed need for a weapon that could be launched from fortress America and strike Osama bin Laden’s lair on the other side of the world in less than an hour. That was an idea so unlikely that, unfortunately, few outside policy circles took the matter seriously, even when it was later revealed that another aim of prompt global strike was to destroy Chinese anti-satellite weapons before they could be launched.