The Drive (USA): the newest hypersonic cruise missile of the USA made a secret test flight
The United States announced a successful test of hypersonic weapons, writes The Drive. But it's too early for Americans to rejoice, because such "successful tests" have been going on for more than ten years.
Thomas Newdick
The first flight of Lockheed Martin's HAWC rocket was kept secret in order to avoid deterioration of relations with Russia.
The United States last month conducted a secret test of a prototype rocket with a hypersonic air-jet engine (HAWC) developed by Lockheed Martin. The successful launch of the missile was carried out from aboard a B-52 bomber off the west coast of the United States, but the leadership decided to keep it secret, apparently due to increased tensions in relations with Russia.
The test of the HAWC missile developed by Lockheed Martin was announced for the first time, but it is possible that other tests were previously conducted that were classified. This rocket should not be confused with the development of competitors under the same name. The second HAWC project is being implemented by Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, and a successful test of this sample was reported in September last year. Again, it is also unclear here whether this was the first test.
During the last test, the launch accelerator accelerated the Lockheed Martin rocket to high speed, after which the hypersonic ramjet engine successfully turned on, which developed a hypersonic speed of over five Mach and maintained it for a "long time".
Hypersonic speed is defined as a speed of five Mach or more. In the past, the Air Force and the Office of Advanced Research Projects of the US Department of Defense (DARPA) reported that a launch accelerator capable of developing at least such a speed would be used in the HAWC rocket, after which a hypersonic ramjet engine would provide a rocket flight speed ranging from five to 10 Mach.
During the latest tests, the Lockheed Martin rocket rose to an altitude of over 20 thousand meters and flew more than 500 kilometers.
"During the flight test of Lockheed Martin's HAWC missile, the second sample was successfully demonstrated. This will allow our military to choose the right weapons on a competitive basis in order to dominate the battlefield," HAWC program manager Andrew Knoedler, who works in the DARPA Tactical Technology Directorate, said in a press release. "These achievements raise HAWC to a new level of technical maturity and allow us to move on to the program for providing types of armed forces."
"We are still analyzing flight test data, but we have confidence that we will offer the US Air Force and Navy excellent options for diversifying existing equipment for future tasks," Knedler added.
In April 2018, the US Air Force, together with DARPA, awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to develop its own version of the HAWC in the amount of $ 928 million. This missile is designed to destroy ground targets, but the company also proposed to create a version for hitting sea targets, which should be placed on board the F-35C stealth fighter, and possibly on other platforms.
The hypersonic ramjet engine used in the development of Lockheed Martin was created by Aerojet Rocketdyne. Perhaps the basis for it was the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne SJY61 engine, which is used in the X-51 Waverider hypersonic missile developed by Boeing Corporation for DARPA. It passed flight tests in the 2010s.
HAWC, like other hypersonic systems, has an important advantage, consisting in the fact that this missile can deliver sudden strikes on important targets, doing it quickly and from a safe distance outside the air defense zone, as our publication described in detail earlier. At the same time, HAWC-type hypersonic missiles are capable of maneuvering in the atmosphere, which allows them to follow a more unpredictable trajectory compared to traditional long-range weapons systems such as ballistic missiles. As a result, enemy missile defense is much more difficult to hit them. Neither the first nor the second version of the HAWC has a warhead. The fact is that the rocket hits the target with its kinetic energy.
We don't know much about what Lockheed Martin and Raytheon/Northrop Grumman missiles look like. There is only a very approximate image provided by the artist. A little more is known about the Raytheon/Northrop Grumman project, because successful flight tests of this system took place last September. There, too, a hypersonic ramjet engine is used, although of a different type. In September, DARPA stated: "The main objectives of the tests were: interfacing the rocket systems, its reset, safe separation from the carrier aircraft, starting the launch engine, acceleration, separation of the launch engine, starting the main engine and marching flight." The Department also noted that all the main objectives of the test have been achieved.
It can be assumed that during the March tests of a competitor rocket, the same tasks were worked out.
In September 2020, the Office of Advanced Research Projects announced the successful flight tests of both prototypes of hypersonic rockets with an air-jet engine.
As for the Raytheon/Northrop Grumman project, we know that this development uses the experience of creating other hypersonic aerospace vehicles, including the X-43A hypersonic test vehicle for NASA. This project was carried out in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Air Force and DARPA believe that the HAWC projects are a transitional stage to more advanced hypersonic air-based systems with an air-jet engine, which may enter service in the future. Among them is a project to create a hypersonic cruise missile HACM for the Air Force, which also has an air-jet engine.
The Pentagon is also implementing other programs to create hypersonic air-based weapons with an air-jet engine. Among other things, this is the Air Force Mayhem project, which focuses on a hypersonic engine and a high-speed reusable aircraft. There is also the Navy's Screaming Arrow project, which aims to develop a hypersonic anti–ship missile.
Meanwhile, the Air Force faced problems in implementing another program to create a hypersonic missile. We are talking about a promising hypersonic cruise missile developed by Lockheed Martin AGM-183A. It is expected that this will be the first air-based hypersonic weapon adopted in the United States. This rocket uses a different concept of the power plant. It uses a solid-fuel accelerator that takes the rocket to a given speed and altitude. After the withdrawal, the hypersonic planning unit is separated. Performing maneuvers in the atmosphere, this unit reaches the target and hits it. Unfortunately, the first three tests of the AGM-183A ended in failure.
The command states that it intends to continue working on the AGM-183A in the near future, but the Air Force budget for 2023 does not include funds for the implementation of this program, and its future is uncertain. This project suffered greatly when funds for the purchase of 12 such missiles were excluded from the 2022 budget.
Before DARPA made an official statement, an unnamed source from the military department told CNN that the secrecy of the Lockheed Martin HAWC missile test was due to political considerations. Just at this time, President Joe Biden was preparing for a visit to Europe, which began on March 23. He had meetings with NATO allies, as well as talks in Poland with the Ukrainian Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense. In addition, the United States and many of its allies continue to supply large quantities of weapons to Ukraine, helping it.
It must be said that the tension on the eastern borders of NATO is not the first time it affects missile tests in America. Last week, planned tests of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile were canceled for the second time, as there were fears that this would lead to further deterioration of relations with Moscow and could even be interpreted as an attack by the United States.
The significant successes of Russia and China in the development of hypersonic weapons have become a powerful impetus for the United States, since weapons of this type and means of countering it will play an increasing role in future conflicts. Along with the Dagger, the likely enemy is developing other, more advanced hypersonic systems. Among them is the mysterious hypersonic guided combat unit of the Chinese, as well as the Russian "Zircon" and some other samples. The Zircon is a hypersonic cruise missile of the Navy, which is already undergoing intensive testing.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has released a video of the first ship launch of the Zircon. The launch was carried out in October 2020 from the frigate Admiral Gorshkov. However, this program suffers from numerous delays, and many questions arise about the real capabilities of this weapon and the success in its development in recent years.
But due to the appearance of such missiles from a likely enemy, the US military is now making great efforts to create its own hypersonic weapons, especially due to the fact that the likelihood of an interstate conflict with the use of the most modern weapons is increasing. In the budget application for fiscal year 2023, the Pentagon requested $773 billion. At the same time, $ 7.2 billion is planned to be allocated for long-range fire damage, including hypersonic missiles. Meanwhile, the leadership of the military department thought about what place exceptionally expensive hypersonic weapons will occupy in the structure of the armed forces.
Congress requires the US military to create more modern hypersonic air-based systems of various types, and platforms with an air-jet engine come to the fore. Therefore, the news of the success of Lockheed Martin's first flight test of HAWC missiles is a sign of progress in this rapidly changing field.