Pentagon Successfully Tests Hypersonic Missile
The Straits Times & Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON (March 20, 2020) — The United States announced on Friday (March 20) it has successfully tested an unarmed prototype of a hypersonic missile, a nuclear-capable weapon that could accelerate the arms race between superpowers.
The Pentagon said a test glide vehicle flew at hypersonic speeds — more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5 — to a designated impact point.
The test followed the first joint US Army and Navy flight experiment in October 2017, when the prototype missile demonstrated it could glide in the direction of a target at hypersonic speed.
“Today, we validated our design and are now ready to move to the next phase towards fielding a hypersonic strike capability,” Vice-Admiral Johnny Wolfe said in a statement.
Hypersonic weapons can take missile warfare, particularly nuclear warfare, to a new — and, for many, frightening — level.
They can travel much faster than current nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles at low altitudes, can switch direction in flight and do not follow a predictable arc like conventional missiles, making them much harder to track and intercept.
Even as conventionally armed, non-nuclear weapons, they are viewed by analysts as raising the danger of conflict, because an adversary might not know how they are armed when launched.
The Pentagon is pressing to catch up with rivals Moscow and Beijing in the race to develop hypersonics, even as it recognises they could dangerously raise the risks of a nuclear conflict, as countries struggle to build defences against them.
In its fiscal 2021 budget, the US Defence Department requested US$3.2 billion (S$4.6 billion) for hypersonic programmes, up from US$2.6 billion in the current year. The goal is a deployable hypersonic capability by 2023, though that could be difficult.
“Delivering hypersonic weapons is one of the department’s highest technical research and engineering priorities,” the Pentagon said.
RUSSIA LEADING THE RACE
The joint Army-Navy test was carried out on March 19 from the Pacific Missile Range facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The test was for the military’s common-hypersonic glide body, or C-HGB weapon, designed to be launched from a rocket that could be land-, air- or sea-based.
“The glide body tested today is now ready for transition to Army and Navy weapon system development efforts,” said Mike White, the assistant director of the hypersonics program.
In December, Russia declared it had placed into service its first Avangard hypersonic missile, making it the first country to claim an operable hypersonic weapon.
Russian officials claimed that in tests it had reached speeds of up to Mach 27, roughly 33,000kmh.
China is also investing significantly in their development. Last October, it displayed its DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle in its national day military parade.
The US military is meanwhile pouring money into advanced missile defence research to find ways to protect against hypersonics.
A senior Nato official warned that in a hypersonic missile strike, it may not even be clear what the target is “until there’s a boom on the ground.”
NEW ARMS RACE
In January the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists advanced its “Doomsday Clock,” its assessment of the risk of nuclear holocaust, in part due to the rising threat of hypersonic weapons.
“There is increasing investment in and deployment of hypersonic weapons that will severely limit response times available to targeted nations and create a dangerous degree of ambiguity and uncertainty,” it said.
“This uncertainty could lead to rapid escalation of military conflicts. At a minimum, these weapons are highly destabilising and presage a new arms race.”
An undated photo supplied by Russia shows a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile lifting off from a truck-mounted launcher. (Photo: AP)
Russia Deploys New Hypersonic Nuclear-capable Missiles that Can Travel 27 Times the Speed of Sound
MOSCOW (December 27, 2019) — A new intercontinental weapon that can fly 27 times the speed of sound became operational on Friday (Dec 27), Russia’s defence minister reported to President Vladimir Putin, bolstering the country’s nuclear strike capability.
Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite.
The new Russian weapon and a similar system being developed by China have troubled the United States, which has pondered defence strategies.
The Avangard is launched atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, but unlike a regular missile warhead that follows a predictable path after separation, it can make sharp manoeuvres in the atmosphere en route to target, making it much harder to intercept.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty.
“I congratulate you on this landmark event for the military and the entire nation,” Shoigu said later during a conference call with top military leaders.
The Strategic Missile Forces chief, General Sergei Karakayev, said during the call that the Avangard was put on duty with a unit in the Orenburg region in the southern Ural Mountains.
Putin unveiled the Avangard among other prospective weapons systems in his state-of-the-nation address in March 2018, noting that its ability to make sharp manoeuvres on its way to a target will render missile defence useless.
“It heads to target like a meteorite, like a fireball,” he said at the time.
The Russian leader noted that Avangard is designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 deg C resulting from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
The military said the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound. It carries a nuclear weapon of up to two megatons.
Putin has said Russia had to develop the Avangard and other prospective weapons systems because of US efforts to develop a missile defence system that he claimed could erode Russia’s nuclear deterrent.
Moscow has scoffed at US claims that its missile shield is not intended to counter Russia’s massive missile arsenals.
Earlier this week, Putin emphasised that Russia is the only country armed with hypersonic weapons.
He noted that for the first time Russia is leading the world in developing an entire new class of weapons, unlike in the past when it was catching up with the US.
In December 2018, the Avangard was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Urals and successfully hit a practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6,000km away.
Russian media reports indicated that the Avangard will first be mounted on Soviet-built RS-18B intercontinental ballistic missiles, code-named SS-19 by Nato.
It is expected to be fitted to the prospective Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile after it becomes operational.
The Defence Ministry said last month it demonstrated the Avangard to a team of US inspectors as part of transparency measures under the New Start nuclear arms treaty with the US.
The Russian military previously had commissioned another hypersonic weapon of a smaller range.
The Kinzhal (Dagger), which is carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, entered service with the Russian air force last year.
Putin has said the missile flies 10 times faster than the speed of sound, has a range of more than 2,000km and can carry a nuclear or a conventional warhead.
The military said it is capable of hitting both land targets and navy ships.
China has tested its own hypersonic glide vehicle, believed to be capable of travelling at least five times the speed of sound.
It displayed the weapon called Dong Feng 17, or DF-17, at a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese state.
US officials have talked about putting a layer of sensors in space to more quickly detect enemy missiles, particularly the hypersonic weapons.
The administration also plans to study the idea of basing interceptors in space, so the US can strike incoming enemy missiles during the first minutes of flight when the booster engines are still burning.
The Pentagon also has been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years, and Defence Secretary Mark Esper said in August that he believes “it’s probably a matter of a couple of years” before the US has one.
He has called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.
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