Armi ipersoniche

[TT-1 Pinto]

HAWC (Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept) ha volato ... ma i risultati dell'esperimento sono stati tenuti segreti ...

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DARPA, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force, completed a free flight test of its Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) last week. 
The missile, built by Raytheon Technologies, was released from an aircraft seconds before its Northrop Grumman scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine kicked on. 
The engine compressed incoming air mixed with its hydrocarbon fuel and began igniting that fast-moving airflow mixture, propelling the cruiser at a speed greater than Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).
The HAWC vehicle operates best in oxygen-rich atmosphere, where speed and maneuverability make it difficult to detect in a timely way. 
It could strike targets much more quickly than subsonic missiles and has significant kinetic energy even without high explosives.
"The HAWC free flight test was a successful demonstration of the capabilities that will make hypersonic cruise missiles a highly effective tool for our warfighters,” said Andrew "Tippy" Knoedler, HAWC program manager in DARPA's Tactical Technology Office. 
"This brings us one step closer to transitioning HAWC to a program of record that offers next generation capability to the U.S military."

... darpa.mil ... https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2021-09-27 ...

Anche qui ... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/hypersonic-hawc-missile-flies-details-kept-hidden/ ...

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Perplessità ...

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North Korea tested a missile it called the Hwasong-8 “strategic weapon” Sept. 28, suggesting later that it was a hypersonic missile - but the Pentagon said it’s unclear exactly what Pyongyang flew and that it doesn’t change U.S. military posture in the Western Pacific.
Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, head of U.S. Northern Command, told Pentagon reporters Sept. 30 that the U.S. Intelligence Community is “still making an assessment” of what was tested, which he said North Korea has claimed was a hypersonic missile.
“We’ll just have to see,” he said, but even if the conclusion is that the vehicle tested was a true hypersonic glide vehicle, it doesn’t pose a threat the U.S. can’t defend against.
“It would be my assessment that the homeland would be safe and secure” from a North Korean hypersonic missile, Van Herck asserted. 
He did not speculate on the threat to U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/north-korea-claims-hypersonic-missile-test-intel-community-unsure/ ...

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[TT-1 Pinto]

AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) ... fallito pure il terzo test ... cosa che a Russi e Cinesi non spiacerà di certo ...

Cita

Il terzo volo di prova del razzo ipersonico AGM-183A (Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, ARRW) si è rivelato un fallimento proprio come i test precedenti, e le cause non sono state ancora del tutto identificate, secondo quanto riferito dal general di brigata del'aviazione statunitense Heath Collins alla rivista War Zone (*).

... it.sputniknews.com ... https://it.sputniknews.com/20211218/usa-terzo-fallimento-per-il-missile-ipersonico-arrw-afferma-il-capo-dellaeronautica-14254277.html ...

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

  ---   &  

[TT-1 Pinto]

E' di primaria importanza che il tracciamento a infrarossi dei missili ipersonici sia effettuato ancor più vicino alla Terra, dall'orbita terrestre bassa ...

Cita

A satellite constellation specially suited to tracking hypersonic missiles could be up and running by 2025.
Director of the Space Development Agency Derek M. Tournear laid out the advantages of the Tracking Layer of SDA’s still-envisioned National Security Space Architecture in a virtual talk Jan. 12 hosted by the Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence.  
Tournear explained that maneuverability has brought about the need for infrared tracking to be done closer to Earth, from low Earth orbit (LEO) in addition to the 40,000-kilometer-high orbits where missile tracking takes place now. 
DOD’s existing tracking systems in high geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) and polar orbit can detect the launches, but maneuverability has introduced the need to also track missiles throughout their flight, Tournear said. 
His comments come one day after North Korea claimed to have tested another hypersonic missile. 
Although the U.S. refers only to the missile as “ballistic,” officials agree the missile launched Jan. 11 is more advanced than one launched just a week earlier.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/how-the-sdas-satellite-swarm-will-track-hypersonic-missiles-where-others-cant/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Anche le armi ipersoniche sono presenti nella lista delle massime priorità della Sottosegretaria alla Difesa Heidi Shyu ...

Cita

Artificial Intelligence, integrated networks, hypersonics, and microelectronics are among the top priorities for Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. 
In a wide-ranging discussion with reporters Jan. 13, Shyu also said hypersonics test capacity will see a big boost in the fiscal 2023 program objective memoranda and that a major experiment in joint all-domain command and control will take place in February, connecting platforms from all the services.
Shyu said she had planned to reduce the 11 top priorities created by the previous administration.
“I thought I could neck it down quite a bit, but I sort of failed, and I think I’ve ballooned it instead,” she said. 
The new list should be published soon. 
Shyu didn’t want to get ahead of the announcement but mentioned “trusted AI” and integrated networks as high on the list. 
The latter is necessary “to use autonomy on an unmanned system,” she said. 
She also mentioned hypersonics and microelectronics, which were the top two under the previous administration.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/ai-networks-hypersonics-are-the-pentagons-top-research-priorities/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

E' stato siglato un accordo fra Hypersonix Launch Systems Ltd. e Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. per lo sviluppo e la sperimentazione del dimostratore di tecnologia per droni ipersonici multi-missione DART AE.

Cita

Hypersonix Launch Systems Ltd. and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. have signed an agreement to launch the DART AE multi-mission hypersonic drone technology demonstrator. 
In the Hypersonix Kratos Team’s (the “Team”) submission to the Australian Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) Grants Program 2, the Team is planning for a launch and initial demonstration flight of the DART AE Hypersonic Drone System in 2023. 
The Hypersonix DART AE, a multi-mission, hypersonic drone, will be fully 3D-printed out of exquisite high-temperature materials and powered by a single, fifth-generation SPARTAN, zero emission, clean hydrogen scramjet engine with a publicly disclosable range of 500km.

 ... hypersonix.com.au ... https://hypersonix.com.au/hypersonix-and-kratos-sign-agreement-to-develop-and-fly-dart-ae-hypersonic-drone/ ...

 & 

Modificato 26 Gennaio 2022 da TT-1 Pinto
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[TT-1 Pinto]

Invito alla collaborazione ...

Cita

The Air Force should work closely with the Army, Navy, and Defense Department to identify best practices and share data as it looks to get its hypersonic missile program back on track, according to the recommendations of a new Pentagon report released Jan. 27 (* da pagina 191). 
The AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon is intended to be the Air Force’s first hypersonic weapon, deployed in the early 2020s. 
But over the course of 2021, the weapon failed three booster flight tests, raising fears that the program could be delayed. 
An issue with a fin actuator led to the failure of the first booster flight test for the Air Force’s hypersonic missile, while the service continues to investigate what caused a second failure, the DOD’s Office of the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation revealed in its annual report. 
The DOT&E report didn’t recommend that the Air Force revise its schedule for the program, but it did detail the unexpected “hardware and software” problems that caused problems for ARRW at multiple stages of testing in fiscal 2021.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/pentagon-report-air-force-army-navy-hypersonic-best-practices/ ...

(*) ... dote.osd.mil ... https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub/reports/FY2021/2021DOTEAnnualReport-opt.pdf?ver=_3wA1DAoalkLSLJEmAQARg%3d%3d ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Un rapporto del CSIS relativo alla possibilità di contrastare la minaccia dei missili ipersonici ... 

... csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com ... https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/220207_Karako_Complex_AirDefense.pdf?SmaHq1sva9Sk.TSlzpXqWY72fg8PdLvA ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

A causa di reiterati fallimenti ... si prospetta un futuro incerto per il missile ipersonico AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon ... 

Cita

The Air Force’s Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon may be running out of chances to prove its worth.
The service’s 2023 budget request does not include any procurement funds for the troubled hypersonics program, and though officials said they remain committed to the program in 2023, its future is less certain.
“[We’re] not walking away. It’s funded in FY 23,” Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III, deputy assistant secretary for budget, told reporters. 
“And then we’ll make an assessment after that.”
ARRW has hit a number of setbacks recently, failing three booster flight tests in 2021 - failing to leave the pylon in April, separating but failing to fire its booster in July, and once again not separating from the plane in December.
Those failures led to Congress stripping out the planned procurement of 12 ARRW missiles in the 2022 budget; the Air Force had asked for $160 million on the assumption that the tests would go smoothly, paving the way for the missile to rapidly enter service.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/arrw-hypersonics-program-faces-uncertain-future-after-2023/ ...

[Alpino]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:46 AM, TT-1 Pinto said:

A causa di reiterati fallimenti ... si prospetta un futuro incerto per il missile ipersonico AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon ... 

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/arrw-hypersonics-program-faces-uncertain-future-after-2023/ ...

E' un programma diverso dall'hawc testato 2 settimane fa?

 

US tested hypersonic missile in mid-March but kept it quiet to avoid escalating tensions with Russia - CNNPolitics

Modificato 5 Aprile 2022 da Alpino

[TT-1 Pinto]

1 ora fa, Alpino ha scritto:

E' un programma diverso dall'hawc testato 2 settimane fa?

US tested hypersonic missile in mid-March but kept it quiet to avoid escalating tensions with Russia - CNNPolitics

Penso di si ... comunque quello delle armi ipersoniche USA (con tutti quei loro acronimi impossibili) mi sembra un vero e proprio labirinto ...

... raytheonmissilesanddefense.com/news ... https://www.raytheonmissilesanddefense.com/news/2022/03/15/what-it-is-like-to-design-and-launch-a-hypersonic-missile ...

E il bello è che i due giovani hanno cognomi italiani ...

 

[Flaggy]

Un articolo sul recente successo del secondo lancio del HAWC, che per l'appunto è altra cosa rispetto all'AGM-183A, che invece per ora non va bene.

https://theaviationist.com/2022/04/06/second-successful-flight-for-hawc/

[TT-1 Pinto]

La notizia viene anche riportata sul sito dell'Air & Space Forces Association ... ex Air Force Association (*) ...

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/new-hawc-hypersonic-missile-sets-record-for-endurance/ ...

(*) ... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/afa-changes-name-to-the-air-space-forces-association/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

“Almost impossible to stop” ...
Come la Russia ha battuto gli Stati Uniti nella corsa al missile ipersonico ...

Cita

On March 18, nearly one month into the invasion of Ukraine, a Russian Air Force MiG-31B took to the skies bearing a 26-foot white rocket against its belly, bound for an ammunition depot in western Ukraine. 
This type of rocket, dubbed the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal - “dagger” in Russian - had only been fired twice in history, both times for tests; this was its first appearance in active conflict. 
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Kinzhal destroyed the depot, pushing the war in Ukraine into a troubling new phase of uncertainty and escalation.
With a reported range of more than 1,200 miles and a claimed top speed of Mach 10, the Kinzhal is an air-launched weapon based on Russia’s 9K720 Iskander short-range ballistic missile. 
Like all ballistic missiles, the Kinzhal achieves hypersonic velocities using a rocket engine and an arcing ballistic flight path. 
But Russia claims the Kinzhal can perform evasive maneuvers at every leg of its journey. 
It’s a weapon described by President Joe Biden as “almost impossible to stop.”

... popularmechanics.com ... https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a39611090/how-russia-beat-america-to-the-hypersonic-missile/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il più recente "Rapporto al Congresso" sulle armi ipersoniche ...

... s3.documentcloud.org ... https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21895629/report-to-congress-xon-hypersonic-weapons-may-5-2022.pdf ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Programma HAWC ... l'agenzia DARPA pensa ad ulteriori sviluppi ...

Cita

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in a bid to mature its scramjet-powered hypersonic weapon program, is seeking $60 million in its fiscal 2023 budget for the next phase of the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapons Concept.
The new-start program, dubbed MoHAWC, is a successor to HAWC, developed jointly with the Air Force using Raytheon and Lockheed Martin as prime contractors. 
Both companies conducted successful test flights of their vehicles, with Raytheon’s flying in September and Lockheed’s in March. 
The HAWC vehicles are powered by scramjet engines designed to offer better, more efficient performance at hypersonic speeds. 
Northrop Grumman built the propulsion system for Raytheon’s HAWC vehicle and Aerojet provided Lockheed’s.
With HAWC’s flight-test objectives completed, DARPA will build on that work through MoHAWC. 
Budget documents show the agency wants to further develop the vehicle’s scramjet propulsion system, upgrade integration algorithms, reduce the size of navigation components and improve its manufacturing approach.
HAWC and its successor are part of the Defense Department’s broader hypersonic weapons portfolio, which has been given higher priority in light of threats from Russia and China.

... c4isrnet.com ... https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2022/05/09/darpa-maturing-scramjet-powered-hypersonic-weapon-concept-through-follow-on-program/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) ... dopo tre fallimenti è arrivato il primo successo ... ma mancano tuttora certezze sul futuro del programma ...

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The Air Force conducted its first successful test of the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, on May 14, snapping a streak of three consecutive failed tests and giving the beleaguered hypersonics program a much needed boost.
Off the coast of Southern California, the AGM-183A ARRW separated from the wing of a B-52H Stratofortress, according to an Air Force release (*), then its booster ignited and burned for an “expected duration,” flying at hypersonic speeds—at least five times the speed of sound.
The 419th Flight Test Squadron and the Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., executed the test.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/arrw-flies-at-hypersonic-speeds-in-first-successful-test/ ...

(*) ... af.mil/News ... https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3033416/air-force-conducts-successful-hypersonic-weapon-test/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) ... c'è un comunicato di Lockheed Martin dal quale si evince che l'azienda è l'assegnataria del programma ...

Cita

The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin successfully conducted a hypersonic-boosted flight test of the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) from the service’s B-52H Stratofortress. 
The successful flight demonstrates the weapon’s ability to reach and withstand operational hypersonic speeds, collect crucial data for use in further flight tests, and validate safe separation from the aircraft to deliver the glide body and warhead to designated targets from significant standoff distances.
“The need for hypersonic strike capabilities is critical to our nation and this successful test will help us to maintain an accelerated and rigorous timeline,” said Dave Berganini, vice president of Hypersonic and Strike Systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. 
“Our strong partnership with the U.S. Air Force has allowed us to quickly progress hypersonic technologies for our men and women in uniform.”

... news.lockheedmartin.com ... https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2022-05-17-us-air-force-and-lockheed-martin-successfully-complete-arrw-hypersonic-boosted-test-flight ...

Modificato 18 Maggio 2022 da TT-1 Pinto
***

[TT-1 Pinto]

Per i test relativi allo sviluppo dei velivoli ipersonici l'USAF ritorna all'impiego delle slitte a razzo ...

Cita

The Air Force has demonstrated renewed capability to run a vehicle at hypersonic speed on a sled track and recover the test article, adding another means to test hypersonic technologies, according to the service’s Arnold Engineering and Development Center.
In two tests since July 2021, conducted at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., vehicles were accelerated to more than 5,000 feet per second on a 10-mile-long sled track, then decelerated and the payloads recovered, AEDC said (*). 
The tests were conducted by the 864th Test Squadron at Holloman.
The Holloman High-speed Test Track (HHSTT) is a capability unique to the Defense Department, and is “the only sled track capable of recovering sleds with test articles from velocities over Mach 5,” according to Daniel Lopez, project manager for the tests.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/air-force-revives-sled-testing-for-hypersonics-work/ ...

(*) ... arnold.af.mil ... https://www.arnold.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3050680/holloman-high-speed-test-track-sets-record-with-fastest-recovery-mission-in-30/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Rapporto del GAO appena pubblicato ...

... gao.gov ... https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-105075.pdf ...

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

La Commissione per le Forze Armate della Camera dei Rappresentanti degli Stati Uniti (HASC) propone una "Iniziativa Ipersonica Nazionale" ...

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To increase coordination and resources for hypersonic weapons development, the House Armed Services Committee included a “National Hypersonic Initiative” in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act. 
The House panel wants the Pentagon to produce a report, due early in 2023, on how it will build up the hypersonics industrial base and testing infrastructure and what the effort will cost over five years.
In its markup of the fiscal 2023 NDAA, the House committee “notes the multiple programs and efforts” in hypersonics across the armed services and defense agencies but also the “limited industrial base and workforce with the requisite knowledge and infrastructure” needed to develop and test these systems. 
The HASC is “interested in the potential of an initiative to address current gaps” in the hypersonics development infrastructure “as well as to accelerate production and fielding.” 
Besides the Air Force, the Navy and Army are pursuing hypersonics programs, as are the Missile Defense Agency and NASA.
Pentagon and industry officials welcomed the attention to hypersonics but said much of what the language calls for is already happening.

 ... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/house-proposes-national-hypersonic-initiative-to-boost-coordination-testing-industry-expansion/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il missile ipersonico AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) ha volato con successo per la seconda volta, completando i test del  booster ...

Cita

The Air Force accomplished a second free flight of its hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, in a test off the coast of California on July 12, the service announced. 
The test concludes the booster test phase of the program and clears it for operational testing later in 2022, USAF said.
The test marked the 12th time the ARRW had flown captively on a B-52 bomber and the second time it had successfully separated from the launch aircraft; it flew successfully in May. 
Three earlier attempts at test flights ended in failure, as the missile either failed to separate from the carrier aircraft or failed to fire a booster rocket. 
Those setbacks caused USAF to reduce funding for the program.
In the July 12 test, “The AGM-183 weapon system reached hypersonic speeds, and primary and secondary objectives were met,” the Air Force said.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/hypersonic-arrw-flies-successfully-for-second-time-completing-booster-tests/ ...

Anche qui ... af.mil/News ... https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3092249/air-force-completes-another-successful-hypersonic-test/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

"Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept" (HAWC) ... completato con successo un nuovo volo libero ...

Cita

DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC), a missile program conducted in partnership with the U.S. Air Force, completed another successful free flight in early July. 
This is the second demonstration vehicle built by Raytheon Technologies to meet test objectives. 
The first Raytheon flight was in September 2021. 
It was followed by success with a different contractor’s vehicle configuration this past spring.
This second flight of Raytheon’s HAWC design leveraged data collected during the 2021 flight. 
After release from an aircraft, the first stage boosted the vehicle to the expected scramjet ignition envelope. 
From there the missile’s Northrop Grumman scramjet engine fired up and propelled the cruiser to speeds greater than Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) for more than 300 nautical miles and reaching altitudes higher than 60,000 feet.
“This most recent test allowed exploration of more of the flight and scramjet engine operating envelopes,” Andrew "Tippy" Knoedler, HAWC program manager in DARPA's Tactical Technology Office.

 ... darpa.mil ... https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2022-07-18 ...

Anche qui ... defensenews.com ... https://www.defensenews.com/battlefield-tech/2022/07/19/darpas-hypersonic-scramjet-missile-logs-another-flight-test-success/ ...

E qui ... rtx.com ... https://www.rtx.com/news/news-center/2022/07/18/raytheon-missiles-defense-northrop-grumman-complete-second-hypersonic-weapon-f ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il successo del test "HAWC" non pone fine agli sforzi della "Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency" (DARPA) nel settore degli scramjet ipersonici ...

Cita

DARPA is going to keep working on its Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, even though the program for which it’s meant to be a technology pathfinder is already in source selection. 
A HAWC demonstrator flew successfully this month.
The new program is known as MoHAWC, but DARPA was not able to immediately explain the new acronym. 
An agency spokesperson referred to a line item in the fiscal 2023 budget request for continued Air Force/DARPA funding of $60 million for MoHAWC. 
The next phase of the program would “develop, integrate, and demonstrate technologies to increase effectiveness and producibility of an air-launched hypersonic cruise missile,” according to the budget request. 
HAWC is a joint effort of the Air Force and DARPA.

... airforcemag.com ... https://www.airforcemag.com/successful-hawc-test-doesnt-end-darpas-hypersonic-scramjet-efforts/ ...

[Flaggy]

Dall'esperienza di DARPA con l'HAWC (Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept) attinge l'HACM (Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile) per il quale the winner is...

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/raytheon-wins-hypersonic-attack-cruise-missile-contract/

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/early-focus-on-end-product-led-to-hypersonic-missile-contract-win-industry-officials-say/