New details are now emerging regarding the U.S. Army's land-based hypersonic weapon endeavor.
According to Breaking Defense, a U.S Army spokesperson said,
"The Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) provides a capability at a distance greater than 2,775
km". So, it will at least be able to hit targets
1,725 miles away.
Viewers may note that LRHW's range means it would have been prohibited under the now-defunct
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, that the United States and Russia
were parties to until 2019.
LRHW is one of the several Hypersonic weapons development programs being undertaken by the
U.S military. Reports suggest the U.S. Army is aiming to
deploy the first experimental LRWH battery in 2023.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) of the
U.S. will level the playing field with Russia & China?
Let’s get started.
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Countries like Russia, China, Israel, India, and the U.S have been developing sophisticated
layered air defense. These systems are difficult for traditional missiles to penetrate.
For example, Russia has deployed S-400 air defense system.
It is designed to defend against aircraft including 5th generation stealth fighters,
bombers, AWACS, cruise missiles, and even ballistic missiles. Russia is also working
on S-500 which will be even more potent.
The U.S. itself fields several systems that are designed to intercept ballistic as well
as cruise missiles like THAAD or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense which is designed
to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase.
Conventional Ballistic missiles follow a predictable parabolic path which makes them vulnerable
to interception. While cruise missiles can take a more erratic
path, they are generally much slower rendering them susceptible and also they don't have
very long range
This is where Hypersonic Weapons come in.
An object is said to be hypersonic once they exceed speeds of Mach 5 or 5 times the speed
of sound. This is about 1,715 meters per second or 3,836
mph or 6,174 kph.
There are currently 3 methods being applied to make hypersonic weapons.
The first is using a Scramjet engine which is an innovation on the Ramjet.
Ramjet engine can power flight to supersonic speeds while scramjet can enable the missiles
to reach hypersonic speeds. These engines have no moving parts and rely
on the huge pressures created by fast airflow into the engine to ignite the fuel and generate
thrust.
The second is through the use of ALBM or Air-Launched Ballistic missile. As the name suggests, this
kind of missile is ballistic in nature but is launched from air, unlike traditional ballistic
missiles which are launched from land or sea-based platforms.
The third is using HGV or Hypersonic Glide Vehicle. In this method, the system is launched
to extremely high altitudes using a Ballistic Missile or an aircraft where it skips across
the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The vehicle then separates from the carrier and glides
back to the earth towards its intended target attaining hypersonic speed.
Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon or LRHW uses this approach.
LRHW consists of a prototype ballistic missile – an All Up Round, or AUR.
The missile is encased in a canister. It has a diameter of 34.5 inches. To give
viewers a perspective, a Tomahawk cruise missile has a diameter of about 20 inches.
The missile has Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) placed on top of it.
It is developed by Sandia National Laboratory and the C-HGB will be used by the different
services of the U.S military - Army, Navy and Air Force.
Viewers may note that the C-HGB is probably based on the Army Hypersonic Weapon or AHW.
A boost-glide vehicle, the AHW was tested in 2011 and achieved a speed of Mach 8 and
a range of almost 4,000 miles or 6437 km.
The Transporter Erector Launchers or TELs are the modified M983A4 Heavy Expanded Mobility
Tactical Trucks (HEMTT). M983A4 is currently being used in the Patriot anti-aircraft missile
system. An M870 trailer is also shown which will be
used to move the TEL.
AFTDS or Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System Version 7.0 will be present for
Battle Management duties.
LRHW will have four Transporter Erector Launchers (TELs), each with two missile canisters.
Two near-peer rivals of the U.S. have made significant progress when it comes to hypersonic
weapons. Russian has reached limited operation deployment
for two hypersonic weapons - Khinzal & Avangard.
Kinzhal is an Air-Launched Ballistic missile. It reportedly has a range of approximately
1,250 miles or 2000 km and a top speed of Mach 10.
According to the Russian president, units in the country’s Southern Military District,
which borders Ukraine and the Black Sea, have deployed the missiles operationally.
Avangard is a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle. Last year Deputy Prime Minister of Russia
that the weapon flew at Mach 27 in a test.
China has developed DF-17 missile along with DF-ZF HGV.
DF-17 or Dongfeng-17 is a Chinese solid-fuelled road-mobile medium-range ballistic missile
that mounts the DF-ZF Hypersonic Glide Vehicle. The DF-17 & DF-ZF, was officially unveiled
at the National Day military parade on 1 October 2019.
It is also thought to be pursuing a hypersonic cruise missile
For some time, the U.S. military has been hesitant when it came to developing and deploying
hypersonic weapons. This lead to U.S. military lagging in this technology.
But things have changed in recent times and the U.S is now moving with full throttle.
As per reports, the U.S military is pursuing 9 programs that are dedicated to fielding
hypersonic weapons. Not only this, the U.S military is also
looking ahead and studying the feasibility of developing an air defense system that can
intercept hypersonic weapons. LRHW is a step in the right direction and
the decent strike envelope will enable it to hit targets from a reasonably good range.