Army & Navy Fire-Off Hypersonic Missile for Warships & Land Attack

By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News

The Pentagon has taken another step forward toward developing a hypersonic missile that can be used by both the Army and the Navy.

The two services recently did an end-to-end flight test of a hypersonic weapon from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. It provided data on the performance of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) and Long Range Hypersonic Weapon All Up Around (LRHW).

“This flight test of the common hypersonic missile marks a milestone for our nation in the development of this capability,” said Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe Jr., the director of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, the lead designer for the project.

Hypersonic weapons can hit speeds over Mach 5 (3,836 miles per hour). Unlike ballistic missiles, they don’t follow a parabola-shaped trajectory, can maneuver on their way to a target and fly at low altitudes – all of which makes them difficult to defend against.

The Army-Navy joint initiative’s goal is to develop cold-gas launched missile system, using a Common Hypersonic Glide Body as the weapon’s nucleus. Dynetics, a subsidiary of Leidos, is under contract to build the glide body, while Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are developing the missiles.

The Army would use mobile land-based launchers for the LRHW, also known as Dark Eagle. The Navy plans to launch its CPS aboard Zumwalt-class destroyers at first and later achieve initial operational capability aboard Virginia-class submarines by fiscal year 2029.