Publication

The Implications of Hypersonic Weapons for International Stability and Arms Control: Report on a UNIDIR-UNODA Turn-based Exercise

In September 2019, a one-day turn-based (or table-top) scenario exercise involving representatives of governments including capital-based experts, Geneva diplomats, military counsellors and independent experts sought to explore the implications of hypersonic weapons for international stability and strategic arms control.

The exercise further developed the findings of a study by UNODA and UNIDIR on Hypersonic Weapons: A Challenge and Opportunity for Strategic Arms Control (February 2019).

Although exercises of this kind have limitations, the fictitious, hypothetical scenarios helped participants to explore findings of the study on the potential of risks related to ambiguity, compressed decision-making times and potential entanglement between conventional and nuclear conflict that could result from the deployment and use of hypersonic weapons.