The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said it has completed the first successful demonstration of a land-based hypersonic missile under its Operational Fires (OpFires) program. The news comes after the second consecutive successful test of the US Air Force's Air-Launched Rapid Response (ARRW) hypersonic missile, which took place yesterday.
DARPA said in a press release that the Operational Fires (OpFires) testing was conducted at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The system met all pre-determined test objectives, including the first use of a U.S. Marine Corps 10-wheel Logistics Vehicle System (LVSR) as a medium-range missile launcher.
The testing was conducted in partnership with prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The overall system includes components from other companies, such as the rocket booster designed and supplied by Northrop Grumman. The booster works in conjunction with a top-mounted unpowered hypersonic glide flight warhead, helping the latter enter hypersonic flight until it reaches the desired speed and altitude. Once these parameters are met, the warhead detaches from the booster and glides along its atmospheric flight path to attack its target at hypersonic speeds. An announcement made by
shows that during the test, other items were also verified, including the first-stage rocket motor, launch tube and missile round pallet (MRP). The pallet launcher will allow the missile to also be launched from other U.S. military trucks, a goal of the OpFires program, according to the release.
It’s worth noting that the medium-range OpFires weapon is one step below the Army’s Dark Eagle hypersonic weapon. The Dark Hawk is a long-range land-based hypersonic weapon that also uses boost-glide flight, but is designed differently than OpFires.
Moreover, OpFires is only the hypersonic weapon developed by the Army, and other military services also have their own development projects. On July 12, the Air Force conducted a test of an AGM-183A ARRW booster called Flight-3 off the coast of Southern California. This was the missile's twelfth overall flight. The Air Force's current ARRW should enter production this year, with early operational capability planned for sometime in fiscal 2023.
However, despite the success of the two recent tests, given the complexity of hypersonic weapons, these two projects will continue to undergo more tests to achieve actual combat capabilities that can effectively restrain their opponents.
