Report to Congress on Hypersonic Weapons
Shafaq News/In August, the United States issued its Congressional Research Service report, Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress.
The report said, “The United States has actively pursued the development of hypersonic weapons—maneuvering weapons that fly at speeds of at least Mach 5—as a part of its conventional prompt global strike program since the early 2000s.” adding that in recent years, the United States has focused such efforts on developing hypersonic glide vehicles, which are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target, and hypersonic cruise missiles, which are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines during flight.
The research analysts reported that the United States is not prepared to fight future wars, adding that the Country is delayed in developing hypersonic weapons compared to its competitors in the arms manufacturing market in the world; therefore, “The Pentagon’s FY2022 budget request for hypersonic research is $3.8 billion—up from $3.2 billion in the FY2021 request. The Missile Defense Agency additionally requested $247.9 million for hypersonic defense.”
At present, the Department of Defense (DOD) has not established any record programs for hypersonic weapons, suggesting that it may not have approved either mission requirements for the systems or long-term funding plans. According to the report.
In 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense has requested $3.2 billion to develop hypersonic weapons. In 2022, it is planned to increase this amount by 18.8%. Despite these amounts of funding, the U.S. Army does not have a single hypersonic weapon system in service currently. The report added.
The U.S. forces will not be able to receive the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) until 2023.
U.S. Navy
In a June 2018 memorandum, DOD announced that the Navy would develop a standard glide vehicle for use across the services. The standard glide vehicle is being adapted from a Mach 6 Army prototype warhead, the Alternate Re-Entry System, which was successfully tested in 2011 and 2017. Once development is complete, “Sandia National Laboratories, the designer of the original concept, then will build the standard glide vehicles. ... Booster systems are being developed separately.
The Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) is expected to pair the common glide vehicle with a booster system to create a common All Up Round (AUR) for use by both the Navy and Army. According to the Navy’s FY2022 budget documents, the Navy intends to conduct testing supporting CPS’s deployment on Zumwalt-class destroyers by FY2025 and Virginia-class submarines by FY2028. In addition, although Navy officials have previously noted plans to achieve “limited operating capability” on Ohio-class submarines as early as 202529 and to field hypersonic weapons on Burke-class destroyers eventually, such plans are not reflected in FY2022 budget documents.
The Navy is requesting $1.4 billion for CPS RDT&E in FY2022—an increase of $366 million over the FY2021 request and $607 million over the FY2021 appropriation.
U.S. Army
The Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon program is expected to pair the standard glide vehicle with the Navy’s booster system. The system is intended to have a range of over 1,725 miles and “provide the Army with a prototype strategic attack weapon system to defeat A2/AD capabilities, suppress adversary Long Range Fires, and engage other high payoffs/time-sensitive targets.” The Army is requesting $301 million in RDT&E for the program in FY2022—$500 million under the FY2021 request and $531 million under the FY2021 appropriation.
It plans to conduct flight tests for LRHW in FY2022 and FY2023, field an experimental prototype in FY2023, and transition to a program of record in the fourth quarter of FY2024.
U.S. Air Force The AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon is expected to leverage DARPA’s Tactical Boost Glide technology to develop an air-launched hypersonic glide vehicle prototype capable of traveling at average speeds of between Mach 6.5 and Mach 8 at a range of approximately 1,000 miles.
Despite testing delays due to technical challenges, ARRW successfully completed a “captive carry” test flight in June 2019; its first free-flight test failed in April 2021.
The Air Force has requested $238 million for ARRW RDT&E in FY2022—$144 million under the FY2021 request and $148 million under the FY2021 appropriation.
In addition, the Air Force has requested $161 million in FY2022 to procure an estimated 12 ARRW missiles.
In February 2020, the Air Force announced that it had canceled its second hypersonic weapon program, the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW), which had been expected to use the common glide vehicle and booster system, due to budget pressures that forced it to choose between ARRW and HCSW.
Then-Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper explained that ARRW was selected because it was more advanced and gave the Air Force additional options. “[ARRW] is smaller; we can carry twice as many on the B-52, and it’s possible it could be on the F-15,” he explained.
A senior Air Force official has since noted that a B-52 could potentially carry four ARRWs.
Finally, in FY2022, the Air Force launched the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program to develop a hypersonic cruise missile that integrates Air Force and DARPA technologies. Some reports indicate that HACM is intended to be launched from bombers and fighter aircraft, with a senior Air Force official noting that a B-52 could carry 20 HACMs or more.
According to the Air Force, “the ability to execute HACM development is contingent upon fully funded and successful predecessor capability development efforts.”
The Air Force requested $200 million for HACM in FY2022.
The Air Force is also seeking information from the industry on the Expendable Hypersonic Air-Breathing Multi-Mission Demonstrator Program, alternatively known as Project Mayhem. According to Principal Director for Hypersonics Mike White, “Project Mayhem is to look at the next step in what the opportunity space allows relative to hypersonic cruise missile systems” and is intended to be capable of flying “significantly longer ranges than what we’re doing today.”
Concerning the Russian weapons, the report said, Russia Although Russia has researched hypersonic weapons technology since the 1980s, it accelerated its efforts in response to U.S. missile defense deployments in both the United States and Europe, and in response to the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001.
Detailing Russia’s concerns, President Putin stated that “the U.S. is permitting constant, uncontrolled growth of the number of anti-ballistic missiles, improving their quality, and creating new missile launching areas. If we do not do something, eventually, this will result in the complete devaluation of Russia’s nuclear potential. Meaning that all of our missiles could simply be intercepted.” Russia thus seeks hypersonic weapons, which can maneuver as they approach their targets, as an assured means of penetrating U.S. missile defenses and restoring its sense of strategic stability.
