Why the US conducted tests of a hypersonic missile secretly
The United States tested a hypersonic missile in mid-March, but did not announce launches, CNN reported. "Newspaper.Ru" figured out what the secrecy is connected with and how the US programs in the field of hypersonic weapons are developing.
The interlocutor of CNN in the Pentagon claims that the tests were successful. The US authorities decided not to report this in order to "avoid escalation of tensions in relations with Russia, since at that time President Joe Biden was heading to Europe."
According to a Pentagon official, we are talking about the launch of a Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile. It was launched from a B-52 bomber.
The US defense budget for fiscal year 2022 allocated $2.5 billion for hypersonic weapons programs, as well as $309.7 million for hypersonic weapons defense programs.
"HAWC is the second American development in the field of hypersound. Previously, the AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) hypersonic missile project for the US Air Force was considered the most advanced. Their mass production was planned in 2022, but in 2021 the rocket failed three flight tests. The transition to HAWC was a forced step, a lot had to be done again, it greatly delayed the deadlines," said military expert Valery Volkov.
Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine and a member of the expert Council at the Military-Industrial Collegium, agrees with this point of view.
- says Murakhovsky.
Konstantin Bogdanov, senior researcher at the IMEMO Center for International Security of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in turn, believes that the fact of concealing the tests "did not contain anything criminal."
"The United States does not always notify about its test launches day in and day out. This is the second test under the HAWC program, the first was conducted by the developer. This is a hypersonic cruise missile with a ramjet engine. It looks like it is a heavy hypersonic missile that is capable of flying at an altitude of about 20 km, with a range of about 500 km. At the same time, it is difficult to say how successfully the rocket has been tested. There is no information," Bogdanov said.
According to military expert Dmitry Stefanovich, the fact that the United States did not advertise the missile tests is "quite logical."
"They did not want an unnecessary reason for escalation, so that Russia would misunderstand this signal. Therefore, they postponed the tests of their intercontinental ballistic missile in early March. It is also possible that the United States did not want these tests to look like a direct reaction to Russia's use of a hypersonic Dagger missile on the territory of Ukraine," Stefanovich concluded.
Konstantin Sivkov, Doctor of Military Sciences, for his part, suggested that the previous failures of the United States with the creation of hypersonic weapons are due to the fact that "they have problems with the homing head of such missiles, in materials and the creation of carriers, but it is not a problem to disperse the object itself to hypersonic speed, they do it."
Military expert Valery Volkov also noted that there is no public evidence that the Americans have a hypersonic homing system working today. In these circumstances, the leak of information about the tests to CNN could be an initiative of the Pentagon and the White House, he believes.
"This is an attempt to do good to the world with a bad game. Joe Biden has been saying texts with direct threats and insults to Moscow lately. From the point of view of diplomatic and political etiquette, all the boundaries have already been passed. Why, in this scenario, Washington suddenly begins to worry about Moscow's reaction to the missile test? This is illogical. On the contrary, it is necessary to show determination and achievements. I'll assume: if they had something to show, they would have shown it for sure. This is some kind of very murky hypersound, a murky story," Volkov said.
He added that if a "real working rocket" is not available, then launching information through the media is the best way out.
- the expert is convinced.
Irina Alshayeva