On June 2, Tom Karako spoke with Mike White, Principal Director for Hypersonics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering OUSD(R&E). The discussion reviewed the programmatic and budgetary implications of both hypersonic strike and defense.
On April 5, the U.S. Air Force conducted a rocket booster test of its hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). According to a USAF release, “the test missile was not able to complete its launch sequence” and was not fired. The ARRW is a boost glide hypersonic weapon. The USAF has previously conducted seven...
On December 11-12, Russia test fired a Tsirkon hypersonic missile and four Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) in a series of naval launches. On December 11, Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov (417) fired a Tsirkon hypersonic missile from the White Sea, striking a coastal target over 350 km away in Northern Russia’s Arkhangelsk region. On December...
Just as the world mitigated the most destabilizing aspects of systems like the strategic bomber and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the United States can blunt some of the risks posed by aerial hypersonic weapons.
On October 7, Russia successfully test-fired a Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile from a warship in the Barents Sea. According to the Russian armed forces, the missile traveled 450 km and reached a maximum speed of Mach 8 before striking a floating target. The scramjet-powered Tsirkon missile reportedly began development in the early 2010s and...
Improved ODI would go a long way to countering modern missile threats. This report examines its benefits, challenges, and the possible road ahead.
On March 19, the United States successfully launched the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. According to a Navy spokesperson, the test “buil[t] on the success” of an earlier flight in October 2017, testing the weapon’s sustained flight capabilities under “additional stresses.” The U.S. Department of Defense...
Japan’s Defense Ministry plans to incorporate an antiship capability on its future hypersonic missiles, according to a February 25 Mainichi Shimbun report. In a 2019 paper, the ministry’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency outlined plans to introduce a ground-launched hypersonic glide vehicle by fiscal 2026 and a more ambitious, high-lift system by fiscal 2028 or...
On December 5, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency revealed the existence of a new counter-hypersonic weapons program, the Regional Glide Phase Weapon System (RGPWS). The program is intended to complement another defense effort designated the Hypersonic Defense Weapon System (HDWS), which began in September 2018 and refined five concepts in September 2019. The Missile Defense...
On August 7, a U.S. Army official confirmed that the service would flight test its first ground-launched hypersonic missile in Fiscal Year 2022. Speaking at the 2019 Space and Missile Defense Symposium, LTG L. Neil Thurgood stated that the boost-glide vehicle would be used jointly across the services; the Army plans to field its first...
