American ‘Dark Eagle’ still remains on theoretical stage |
During a recent visit to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, American Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and accompanying US Army officials disclosed new details on the Pentagon’s troubled hypersonic weapon program. Namely, after numerous delays, the US Army appears to be preparing to induct its first operational hypersonic strike system, the so-called “Dark Eagle”. Initially known as the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), it’s a ground-based missile armed with a hypersonic boost-glide warhead, more commonly known as the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). Due to numerous technological challenges, the LRHW is now at least half a decade late and is essentially a first-generation hypersonic weapon, coming at a time when both Russia and China are at least two decades ahead (if not more at this point).
During the visit, Secretary Hegseth was briefed on the capabilities of the “Dark Eagle” program, which is designed to enable the US Army to “strike high-value, time-sensitive targets at extreme distances”. The LRHW carries an HGV that separates after the missile exceeds Mach 5 (around 1.7 km/s or nearly 6,200 km/h). The maneuvering warhead then flies toward the intended target. The “Dark Eagle’s” speed, maneuverability and depressed flight profile are designed to complicate detection and interception by advanced SAM (surface-to-air missile) and ABM (anti-ballistic missile) systems. Lieutenant General Francisco Lozano, the US Army Director for Hypersonic, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition (HDE&R), told Hegseth that the LRHW has a maximum range of around 3,500........