US to Aggressively Test Hypersonic Weapons as Russia & China Compete for Power

Video Above: Hypersonic Weapons | Army Research Lab

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

Beneath the surface of continued discussions of Chinese and Russian hypersonics weapons tests and demonstrations, the US has been making its own breakthrough progress with first-of-a-kind hypersonics. 

Hypersonic Weapons

The Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), for instance, is on track to be operational as soon as next year. The prototypes exist and have been in development for many years. In anticipation of entering the weapon into operational service, the Army is planning an aggressive testing schedule.

“We’re at the point now where this is kind of the year of testing. So there’s a series of test events coming up that are going to tell us exactly where we are, in terms of hitting that 2023 goal, to make sure we get the first actual weapon capability fielded in a real Army unit. There is a lot of excitement over the next year in terms of how our test activities run. Then we’re going to know where we are,” Mr. Douglas Bush, Assistant Secretary of the Army, Acquisition, Logistics & Technology, told Warrior in an interview.

The Army approach is multi-pronged, meaning the service is both focused on near term delivery and longer term hypersonic weapons development. Firing weapons at five times the speed of sound to massively shorten the timeframe for attack changes the paradigm for current concepts of operation, yet further enhancements are expected to involve the use of new, more heat-resistant materials or breakthrough guidance systems. Mr. Bush and his team of weapons developers work in partnership with the Army Research Laboratory.