By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior Maven
The Pentagon and the military services are taking aggressive measures to capture lessons learned from recent hypersonic tests, build on several years of progress with the Common Hypersonic Glide Body and quickly close whatever “gap” there may be between the US and China when it comes to hypersonic weapons.
All is not lost, US weapons developers stressed in recent remarks to lawmakers, given the massively accelerated nature of the effort and the pace at which adjustments are being made following unsuccessful tests.
There is a collective sense of urgency, however, as threat situation regarding China and hypersonic weapons is considered serious, according to Pentagon experts testifying before Congress.
“China now has the world’s leading hypersonic weapons arsenal,” Mr. Jeffrey McCormick, Senior Intelligence Analyst, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, told Congress in written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Strategic Forces Subcommittee.
McCormick told lawmakers that China deployed its DF-17 hypersonic missile in 2020, a weapon able to hold targets at risk at ranges up to 1,600km. He specified that US military forces in the Pacific would potentially be held at risk by this weapon.
McCormick’s testimony did not reference yet another threat, China’s CPS equivalent YJ-21 ship-launched hypersonic weapon. The PLA Navy has test-fired its YJ-21 hypersonic missile from its new Type 055 destroyer, according to numerous news reports and, according to the Chinese government-backed Global Times newspaper, even deployed an air-launched variant of its YJ-21 from its H-6 bomber.
However, the Pentagon and US military services may be very quickly closing the gap. It is also not beyond the realm of possibility that the US could “pass” China in the realm of hypersonics in the next several years, given rapid progress and early work on a new generation of hypersonic weapons. Several years ago at a Space and Missile Defense Conference, US Army and Navy weapons developers spoke about early progress with “tech-insertion” efforts to upgrade hypersonic weapons to track and destroy moving targets. Tech insertions, involving mostly software, would be designed to expand guidance technology, precision targeting and perhaps even the ability to change-course in flight and adjust to moving targets.
Progress on Testing “Fixes”
Despite a recent setback in testing, US Army and Navy hypersonic weapons developers saw cause for great optimism regarding what was learned from the test and the services’ ability to build upon several years of successful testing and development.
“The programs initiated a series of design reviews and additional testing opportunities to restore technical confidence, achieve critical knowledge points, and reduce risk on the path to return to the range. The program continues to pursue the rapid development of this capability through sub-component and sub-scale testing, before returning to end-to-end weapon system testing,” Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, Director, Strategic Systems Programs, told congress according to written testimony.
Warrior Video Series: Air War in 2050 on Hypersonics
Specifically, the Army-Navy Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB) “round” or “projectile” was successfully tested as far back as 2020, something the services have built upon. The CHGB is a common Army-Navy hypersonic projectile which will arm the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon and the Navy’s ship-launched Conventional Prompt Strike weapon.
“The joint services have also conducted numerous static fire tests of the first and second stage Solid Rocket Motors (SRM), which make up the common missile booster stack that supports both CPS and LRHW,” Wolfe said.
The CHGB was also successfully tested in 2022 and is now being produced as a key element of both the Army and Navy weapons. Described as an “all-up-round,” the CHGB is the same for both the Army’s LRHW and Navy CPS except that the Army weapon uses a “ground-based transporter erector launcher” and the Navy will fire its weapon from a payload module on board the USS Zumwalt.
“The Army and Navy have partnered together to execute a series of joint flight campaigns to validate designs, collect necessary data, and support future Science & 4 Technology efforts,” Wolfe said.
While Wolfe acknowledged that some 2023 hypersonic weapons testing were “not completed as expected,” he stressed that there is much cause for hope given rapid lessons learned and progress with the weapons systems over a period of several years. There is cause, Wolfe explained, for great promise for rapid delivery of the weapon system.
“After each test attempt, the Navy, Army, and our contractor and government national team rapidly reacted to identify root causes, complete corrective actions, and expeditiously return to the range. Army and Navy weapons developers are conducting a thorough review of testing, analysis and data compilation procedures for hypersonic weapons as part of a critical effort to leverage lessons learned,” Wolfe said.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with 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.
