AMERICA MAY HAVE JUST TAKEN THE LEAD IN HYPERSONIC CRUISE MISSILE TECHNOLOGY
Alex Hollings | April 7, 2022
Earlier this week, it was announced that the United States conducted another successful test of its Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) sometime in March. This marks this program’s second successful test in a row using two different scramjet systems.
The first successful test was of a Northrop Grumman design that took place last Fall, while the second, more recent test leveraged a Lockheed Martin scramjet. This is an important point, as it seems to suggest that the United States now has at least two functional scramjet designs for weapons applications. Although the US is regularly seen as behind in the modern hypersonic arms race, this announcement may suggest that the US now leads the way in the race to field scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles.
Hypersonic may sound like a term invented for a kid’s TV show about superheroes, but it relates specifically to platforms capable of traveling at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or around 3,838 miles per hour. At such high speeds, even the most modern air defense systems in the world pose little threat to these weapons as they close with their targets.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/america-may-have-just-taken-the-lead-in-hypersonic-cruise-missile-technology/
