for the first time since the early days of the cold war
america is lagging behind its international competitors in a technology race with
far-reaching military and diplomatic implications hypersonic weapons are one of
six emerging technologies the pentagon believes could dictate the outcomes of future conflicts
but as america's competitors continue to field new hypersonic missile
the us defense advanced research projects agency tried again to test a hypersonic cruise missile
this time the speedy missile didn't just fall off the b-52 carrying it and tumbled to the ground
as happened last year no this time the hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept a co-development
of darpa and the us air force successfully separated from the launch plane presumably a b-52
and a few seconds later fired its scramjet engine and accelerated to a cruising speed
faster than mach 5. the hawk free flight test was a successful demonstration of the capabilities
that will make hypersonic cruise missiles a highly effective tool for our war fighters
said andrew nodoler the darpa program manager this brings us one step closer to transitioning
hawk to a program of record that offers next generation capability to the us military
the hypersonic attack cruise missile is one of a pair of hypersonic weapons the air force has been
spending half a billion dollars on annually in the hope of fielding at least one of them over the
next couple of years the other super fast missile candidate is a totally different kind of weapon
whereas hawk ham is an air-breathing cruise missile the air-launched rapid response
weapon is a so-called boost glide system in essence a glider that gets its initial
speed boost from a rocket motor both weapons in theory could range a thousand miles or so
if not further both could arm b-52s as the air force totally rebuilds the 1960s vintage bombers
for high-tech warfare with say china both have suffered embarrassing developmental problems
an april test of the arrw was a bust after the missile failed to separate from the b-52
three months later another arrw test missile separated but didn't fire it plummeted into
the sea that misfire was similar to hawke's own botch test back in june 2020 so what gives how
is it possible that the united states with a 700 billion dollar annual defense budget can't get
a hypersonic weapon into service while russia's military assigned just 61 billion dollars annually
already has two well the truth as truth tends to be is complicated and as we'll see a few hundred
words from now that very question may misrepresent the true nature of the hypersonic arms race we
now find ourselves in the pentagon devoted just over two billion dollars to developing hypersonic
technologies including missiles in 2021 that number jumped to 3.2 billion it grew once again in
the defense department's 2022 budget proposal with 3.8 billion dollars now earmarked for the effort
all told there are at least 70 hypersonic programs drawing funds from this pool seven of which
are for publicly disclosed hypersonic missiles the united states is indeed lagging behind the
competition in fielding operational hypersonic missiles but the word operational can be pretty
subjective in this context russia for instance says their premier stealth fighter the su-57 is
in operational service despite possessing only a single production aircraft and a dozen prototypes
by american military standards the felon would still be many years away from earning that coveted
operational label but the fact remains that the united states still appears to be literally years
away from feeling a hypersonic weapon and in the minds of many that's a serious problem the word
hypersonic has a cutting-edge connotation to it and recent media coverage of these technologies
has treated the realm of hypersonic flight like it's right out of a science fiction movie
the truth however is that hypersonic platforms have already been around for a decade
and you're almost certainly already familiar with a number of them the hypersonic barrier
is as we've already discussed mach 5 or approximately 3 838 miles per hour
at these speeds air itself becomes the enemy as it impacts the vehicle creating enough friction
to damage or even incinerate most common aircraft and missile materials the space shuttle however
regularly exceeded mach 25 or more than 17 500 miles per hour during re-entry the air force's
current and secretive x-37b can also reach these blistering speeds that means not only does the us
already possess a wide variety of hypersonic platforms just like many other nations even
corporations operated by americans like elon musk and jeff bezos can claim hypersonic capabilities
that's not to say we should adjust the hypersonic weapons conversation to include everything from
nasa's mercury missions to spacex's latest crew dragon flights rather it's meant to highlight the
selective use of the term hypersonic in most media to frame the discussion specifically around the
capabilities america lacks that is after all the more dramatic story the united states hypersonic
missile efforts currently include at least two hypersonic boost glide vehicles and potentially
up to five hypersonic cruise missiles leveraging scramjet propulsion a scramjet or supersonic
ramjet is essentially an air-breathing jet engine that reaches combustion with supersonic airflow
unlike traditional ram jets which use shot cones to reduce airflow to subsonic speeds
this type of propulsion allows for incredibly high rates of travel but it needs to rely on a
conventional source of power whether a ramjet or a rocket booster to reach those speeds in
order to operate well america only has plans to develop new conventional or non-nuclear hypersonic
weapons at this point and that poses larger technical challenges than fielding nuclear ones
nuclear weapons as you can imagine don't need to be nearly as accurate because of the relative size
of their blast radius a conventional weapon on the other hand carries a smaller destructive yield
and as such must be more accurate in order to destroy its target both of russia's operational
hypersonic weapons the kh-47m2 kinzhal and the avanguard boost glide vehicle can be armed
with nuclear warheads china's df-17 is considered nuclear-capable but is not openly called a nuclear
weapon its primary purpose however is to engage aircraft carrier-sized targets at great distances
potentially in the excess of 1000 miles and today there's little evidence to suggest that
their targeting apparatus could accomplish such defeat with a conventional warhead
china however has forced a massive shift in u.s navy and marine corps priorities thanks
to the introduction of the df-17 but it's still important to remember that this shift is based
on the expectation that china will eventually get over the mass of technical hurdles associated with
targeting a moving vessel at range not necessarily the understanding that they already have
but weapon tests are supposed to fail that's the very nature of testing
there's no telling how many undisclosed failures both russia and china have experienced in
their own hypersonic efforts thanks to these nations lacking a free press to report on them
the united states has only conducted 16 tests since 2010 to begin with the fact of the matter
is until recently the us simply didn't feel a pressing need to invest in hypersonic technology
china's hypersonic goals have a lot to do with presenting an image of military parody with the
united states in keeping with their stated aim of becoming the dominant world power by 2049
the df-17 system has also forced the us military to reconsider its approach to
force projection in the pacific making it a successful strategic weapon even if it never
proves capable of hitting an aircraft carrier at all and then there's the united states
which is not reliant on foreign weapon sales to fund its own programs and is already perceived
as the world's preeminent military power america has nothing to gain by rushing a
hypersonic weapon into service beyond prestige but prestige itself is a funny game russia and
china's hypersonic weapons have been in service for a few years and it stands to reason that
america's missiles could be as much as five years behind them before coming operational themselves
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