US (& Allies) Hypersonic developments and missiles

George1 wrote:
..........
Slides and images from the official presentations of the US Army on the promising LRHW (Long Range Hypersonic Weapon) Dark Eagle ground-based hypersonic missile system , 2020 (c) US Army

So this would explain why new Virginia subs will be switching to Ohio-style SSGN tubes for cruise missiles, they need extra space to fit this thing down the road

Kinda like loading Deltas with Kinzhals, good thing Russia skipped that hassle

It looks like the US dusted off the X51 program and started testing it again under a new name. However, there is a long way to get to the Cirkon counterpart. Meanwhile, Russia already has a couple of parallel programs analogous to Cirkon. The test and flight of the missile itself with a scramjet engine is one thing. However, this is the beginning of the path to this very complicated weapon. You need appropriate guidance systems, a structure capable of withstanding enormous overloads, etc.

New US Army’s hypersonic weapon rendering released by Lockheed Martin
NewsArmy
By
Dylan Malyasov
Oct 22, 2021

Pentagon’s No.1 weapons supplier Lockheed Martin Corp. has released a new artist’s rendering of the newest hypersonic weapon system.

It’s called the Operational Fires (OpFires) weapon system and the Army is working on it, together with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In early 2020, Lockheed Martin began work on OpFires weapon system integration under a DARPA contract.

OpFires is an innovative ground-launched system that enables a hypersonic boost glide missile system to penetrate modern enemy air defenses and rapidly engage time-sensitive targets.

Hypersonic missiles typically go one speed: as fast as they can. OpFires features a unique throttleable booster rocket motor that can vary its thrust to deliver payloads across the medium-range spectrum without energy bleed maneuvers. Less time in the air enhances survivability and mission success.

As noted by the company, a throttleable motor and off-road operability make the hypersonic OpFires system the ideal counter to the medium-range threat.

OpFires is designed with the soldier in mind. For the user, it operates off-road, supports rapid loading and reloading and can shoot and scoot within minutes. And it travels light.

“OpFires goes where the warfighter goes,” said Tactical Missiles Advanced Programs Director Steven Botwinik. “It’s transportable by C-130 and deploys without an entourage of unique support systems like cranes, radars and cooling and heating systems.”

For the maintainer, it offers flexibility. Lockheed Martin is integrating OpFires with existing logistics vehicle fleets. The self-contained OpFires system is designed to integrate with the Palletized Load System, enabling them to transform into an OpFires launcher within minutes—and back again—with no specialized tools or vehicle re-configuration.

OpFires engineers are designing OpFires with affordability in mind by reusing proven precision fires subsystems. For example, they are adapting proven High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) electronics and precision fires subsystems for interoperability with U.S. Army Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System infrastructure.

“In the short term, this commonality approach speeds development while reducing development cost and risk,” Botwinik said. “Over the long term it delivers substantial cost savings because all vested programs benefit when one of them upgrades a shared subsystem.”

Lockheed Martin and its government and industry partners are on track to begin integrated flight testing in late 2021.






https://defence-blog.com/new-us-armys-hypersonic-weapon-rendering-released-by-lockheed-martin/

Good article and comments from the Drive on the above and the failed test a couple of days ago, which they seem to think might be a different product.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42837/new-u-s-long-range-hypersonic-weapon-test-fails-updated

Actually it looks like a two stage Iskander so much more range than the Iskandee's range.

3 is better than 2. The more ready to fire missiles the better the system is. The container look easy and quick to be replaced.

However it doesn't look that much manouevrable. I agree it is just an IRBM that should be intercaptable by S-300/400 and probably S-350/Buk-M2/M3.

I guess it will lead to Russia introducing land based kalibr and two stage Iskander very soon.

You need as many as you can when you expect them to be shot down...

The two stage design is different from Iskander because Iskander was developed and complied with the INF treaty, unlike this or AEGIS Ashore which does not.

This will result in Russia introducing a new range of intermediate range missiles to target Europe and the Middle East and Asia, which will free up more ICBMs and SLBMs to target the US...

From a US perspective these are making things much worse and costing more money... certainly not something to celebrate.

Very true.... in every sense of the word... any existing three stage ICBM and SLBM is an IRBM with one stage removed.

More importantly previous two stage missiles... of which there are currently very few because they have been banned for use by the Russians and US... keep the old first stage and retire the expensive upper stage and replace it with a liquid fuelled scramjet and you allow the payload to potentially travel faster, but also rather further too...

In fact the design nature would mean a stack of 8 long slim hypersonic missiles could be bundled together on top of one solid rocket booster... the solid rocket booster does what all solid rocket boosters do and accelerate the upper portion to altitude and speed and lift it clear of the thickest highest drag portion of the atmosphere, where normally after burning out it falls away and the next stage lights up and accelerates the payload to higher speeds and higher ranges.... for ICBMs a third stage usually gets it to near orbital speed and well over the 6K km range needed to be called an ICBM, but in this case if the second stage splits up into 8 or even 12x 6m long.... hell... I have a packet of 2B pencils and if you take a handful of 20 of them they make a "tube" of about 40mm calibre... they are about 7.3mm wide each... scale that up by multiplying it by 10 times and a 4m wide rocket with 20 x 730cm calibre missiles... the whole missile does not need to be enormous, the solid rocket booster just needs to get the missiles into the air and moving at speed... and with 20 individual missiles with scramjet motors shaped to minimise the empty space between the missiles in the bundle and you could have an excellent way of attacking an enemy enmass.... the point is that the second stage being hypersonic scramjet powered can accelerate the missiles to higher speeds than solid rocket motors of the size could and being powered all the way to the target means they can manouver and their target will not be obvious until it turns down into a dive and comes streaking down on the target.

RTN wrote:

Isos wrote:However it doesn't look that much manouevrable.

So just by looking at the exterior features you were able to figure out that the missile is not maneuverable?

Those wings/fins are useless at high altitudes. No air to use them.

You need thrust vectors like on iskander to manoeuvre a missile there. So if it uses only its fins it can manoeuvre only at lower altitudes so it will be shot down when it is high by S-300V4 or S-500 or S-400.

Another failed test of hypersonic weapons made in the USA

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43575/third-test-of-the-air-forces-hypersonic-weapon-has-failed-like-the-ones-before-it

The missile is unable to detach from the plane. Amazing that they still have this problem.

Wings will be used to maneuver during the terminal phase.

They look like stabiliser fins like on the Iskander... these missiles will likely have control surfaces inside the exhaust like the Iskander so while the engine is running they can perform manouvers...

And the Chinese, too

The amusing thing is that China has money, while the US has the illusion of money and are going to have to cut back on their spending in all areas very soon and they are going to go full retard when it comes to collecting tax from their richest citizens and companies... which I suspect will be called communism because rich people shouldn't have to pay tax because they provide shitty minimum wage jobs to lots of people...