US military successfully tests a dozen hypersonic weapon experiments [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• U.S. Navy and Army successfully test-launched nearly a dozen hypersonic weapon experiments on Wednesday.
• The hypersonic glide vehicles are meant to glide to a target at speeds of about 3,853 miles (6,200 km) per hour.
• Such speed could rob enemies of reaction time and traditional defense mechanisms, so the race to develop it is quickening.

The Pentagon said that the U.S. Navy and Army successfully test-launched nearly a dozen hypersonic weapon experiments on Wednesday.

The test was run by Sandia National Laboratories from a seaside launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. According to the Navy, this would evaluate hypersonic weapon communications and navigation equipment and determine if the components can withstand the heat in a “realistic hypersonic environment.”

The rocket launched the hypersonic glide vehicles in the upper atmosphere, which will then glide to a target at speeds of more than five times the speed of sound, or about 3,853 miles (6,200 km) per hour.

These glide bodies are different from air-breathing hypersonic weapons, which sustain flight at hypersonic speeds by using scramjet engine technology and the vehicle’s high speed to forcibly compress incoming air before combustion.

Hypersonic weapons are the next generation of arms. Such speed could rob enemies of reaction time and traditional defense mechanisms, so the race to develop it is quickening.

In an effort to speed the development, the Pentagon filled a critical gap between ground testing and full-system flight testing by launching these prototypes using a sounding rocket, a smaller and more affordable test vehicle.

The test on Wednesday was meant to validate future components of the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) and the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS).

Other companies such as Raytheon Technologies Corp and Lockheed Martin Corp are also working to develop U.S. hypersonic weapon capability.

Source: Reuters