THE WATCH STAFF
The U.S. Army is closer to fielding its Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) after Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state received the final shipment of the system’s prototype ground equipment.
The Army celebrated completion of the hardware’s delivery with a base ceremony on October 7, 2021. The LRHW, called “Dark Eagle,” is a ground-launched missile that will equip the I Corps’ 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade.
The deliveries, which did not include missiles, were completed at the end of September. They include a battery operations center, four transporter/erector launchers, and trucks and trailers. (Pictured: Soldiers unload the LRHW hardware at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.)
This “marks an important milestone in equipping our nation’s first hypersonic battery,” Lt. Gen. L. Neil Thurgood, who oversees the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, said in an October 7, 2021, news release. “From a blank piece of paper in March 2019, we — along with our industry partners and joint services — delivered this hardware in just over two years. Now, Soldiers can begin training.”
Thurgood is also the Army’s director of Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition.
Hypersonic weapons are capable of speeds greater than Mach 5 — five times faster than the speed of sound — and are described by the Army as being extremely accurate, maneuverable and difficult to detect.
The weapons are scheduled to be fielded in 2023, according to the Army.
The LRHW can travel 1,725 miles, according to an October 7 story in the digital magazine Breaking Defense. That means the missiles, if based on the U.S. territory of Guam, could reach Taiwan, where the potential for conflict has grown as Beijing increases its threatening rhetoric over the island. The Dark Eagle delivery helps the Army pivot its focus to near-peer threats and the Indo-Pacific, according to Breaking Defense.
The U.S. is rushing to field hypersonic weapons — as well as develop systems to defend against them — in the wake of hypersonic deployments by the People’s Republic of China and Russia. The Financial Times newspaper, citing multiple sources, reported October 16 that Beijing had launched a nuclear-capable hypersonic in August that circled the Earth at low orbit before narrowly missing its target. The newspaper said the missile test had been conducted secretively. Beijing denied the report.
The Dark Eagle will be deployed in artillery batteries of eight missiles each, according to the Army. Those batteries will be made up of four launch vehicles with two missiles each, plus an operations center. The batteries can be carried by C-130 transport planes, allowing them to reach airfields closer to a potential conflict.
The next step for the Army is to train Soldiers on the equipment, including loading and unloading the system from C-130 transport aircraft, according to Bob Strider, the deputy director of the Army Hypersonic Project Office.
“We are moving very rapidly toward getting this capability put in place,” Strider said at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in August, according to Breaking Defense. “We’re very, very confident that we’re going to meet our 2023 fielding date.”
The Army and Navy are developing similar hypersonic capabilities and are partners in the development of the missile’s Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB), essentially a maneuverable warhead that is launched by a conventional rocket booster. After reaching hypersonic speed, the C-HGB separates from the booster and streaks to its target.
IMAGE CREDIT: SPC. KARLESHIA GATER/U.S. ARMY
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