Dark Eagle's 2,175-mile range strikes mainland China and Pacific targets, leveling the playing field against adversaries and deterring aggression.
By Kris Osborn, Warrior
The soon to be fully operational Long Range Hypersonic Weapon will operate with a range of 2,175 miles, a distance of considerable tactical significance for the Pacific theater. Details about the so-called “Dark Eagle” surfaced in a number of public news reports and on C-SPAN after senior Pentagon weapons developers briefed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during his visit to Alabama to designate Huntsville as the home for US Space Command.
In terms of simple clear deterrence, this Dark Eagle range means that mainland China and areas of the ocean in the Pacific theater can be reached from Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and possibly even Guam. Added to this offensive power, the US Navy expects to have operational Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic weapons arming its Zumwalt-class destroyers in 2026 as well.
Chinese Threat
The much anticipated weapon is indeed arriving now and expected to be operational in multiple locations in coming months, something very much needed in the Pacific to offset China’s current advantage in the realm of hypersonics. China’s now operational DF-17, for example, can likely already hold Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and even Guam at risk of attack from its mainland, and the PLA-Navy has also test-fired the YJ-20 sea-launched hypersonic weapon from its stealthy Type 055 destroyer. Beyond these two areas of concern, the PLA Air Force has even armed its H-6 bomber with the YJ-21, an air-launched variant of the hypersonic weapon. In essence, this means the PLA can hold the US and its allies at risk of hypersonic attack from air, land and sea.
After some developmental challenges, setbacks and growing pains, the US is now closing the hypersonic gap with China, something of massive significance in the Pacific. The significance of these developments cannot be underestimated, because many Pentagon weapons developers, wargamers and observers have expressed concern that the PRC might seek to exploit its hypersonic weapons advantage to create a hypersonic weapons “bubble” around Taiwan to deny access to U.S. and allied forces seeking to intervene. A maneuver of this kind would, in essence, for a strike range of offensive “blockade” through which U.S. warships might not be able to safely travel. The Dark Eagle, however, could hold Chinese warships and ground locations at risk from various locations throughout the Pacific, something which operates as a deterrent. Targeting and maneuverability are key elements of the Dark Eagle, as the system is mobile and deployable on a US Air Force C-17 Cargo Plane so it could quickly reposition as needed to adjust to changing target information. Targeting is also being improved as well, as senior Army leaders publicly said several years ago that Pentagon weapons developers have been working on “tech insertion” software upgrades to eventually enable hypersonic weapons to destroy moving targets.
The PLA could seek to exploit the mis-match and use its hypersonic arsenal to target U.S. warships from coming close enough to engage. Should the U.S. Navy and Army operate with a commensurate ability to target and destroy PLA forces with hypersonic weapons, then China’s advantage is neutralized or “offset.”
Offensive Hypersonics
Offensive hypersonic power is extremely critical, especially at this moment, given that emerging defenses of hypersonic weapons may not be mature enough yet to successfully “intercept” incoming hypersonic missiles. Therefore, the presence of countervailing offensive hypersonic firepower capability is the optimal deterrent against a hypersonic attack.
C-SPAN footage showed Lt. Gen. Francisco Lozano, Director of Hypersonic, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition, said the emerging Dark Eagle could hit China from Guam, Moscow from London and Tehran from Qatar. This targeting range is of great tactical significance, in large measure due to the speed of hypersonic weapons, meaning target locations would have very little time with which to launch countermeasures or any kind of workable defense. Not only that, hypersonic weapons travel so quickly from one radar aperture or field of view to another, that it becomes extremely difficult if not impossible to establish a “continuous” target track of the weapon as it transits through space.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University