Hypersonics to Hit Moving Targets

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

(Washington, D.C.) The Navy’s Tomahawk missile has a two-way data link enabling it to re-route in flight as targets change and a maritime variant of the missile can adjust in flight to moving targets at sea. 

The Navy’s SM-6 missile is equipped with a dual-mode seeker allowing the weapon itself to send forward and electromagnetic ping, analyze the return and adjust course as needed to destroy repositioning targets. 

Semi-active laser spots are regularly used to pinpoint moving targets with Hellfire missiles, artillery and even air-dropped bombs. Precision targeting against moving targets … exists, an ability to change course in flight exists and an ability for a single missile to hit more than one target with multiple re-entry vehicles exists as well.

Hypersonic Weapons

So what about Hypersonic weapons? U.S. hypersonic missiles are already firing and soon to reach operational status, in part due to the massive push to accelerate, tests and fast-track the technology in response to Russia and China. Hypersonic missiles are essentially “here,” so what about an ability to hit moving targets? An ability to hit multiple targets with several warheads loaded onto a single weapon? 

Long Range Hypersonic Weapon: Tech Insertion

Army weapons developers are trying to get in front of these challenges by building in a “tech insertion” possibility in its now developing hypersonic weapon, the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon.

“We have laid out priorities for near term tech insertion. We plan to hold multiple targets at risk through communication with the weapon in flight and hit a moving or relocated target. We will also improve the warhead,” Strider said. Robert Strider, Deputy, Army Hypersonic Project Office, told an audience Aug. 11 at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville Ala.,

How might this work? Certainly the difficulty with establishing any kind of two-way data link with a weapon moving as fast as a hypersonic missile is likely to be quite difficult.