The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is close to building a hypersonic missile. The other day, the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) was tested in the United States.
What is known
The United States has been developing hypersonic weapons under the HAWC program for over a year. Last summer, the third successful test of the rocket took place. At that time, the F-18 Hornet fighter was used for launch.
Boeing’s B-52 Stratofortress nuclear bomber took part in the latest test. He climbed to a height of over 18 km and launched a hypersonic missile at a range of 483 km. In flight, HAWC was able to reach speeds of more than 5 Mach numbers (6174 km / h). The maximum speed of the rocket will be 10 Machs (12348 km/h).
The HAWC missile is being developed by Lockheed Martin. It is powered by a hypersonic ramjet engine developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne. The new development will go into service with the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the US Army.
The operational range of the hypersonic missile will be 560 km. The HAWC does not have a warhead as it is a kinetic energy weapon. The carrier of hypersonic missiles will be American fighters, including the F-35 Lightning II.
DARPA completed HAWC testing. The test was the final one. Now the specialists of the US Air Force Research Laboratory will study the data obtained. For fiscal year 2023, the agency has requested $60 million in funding for the next MoHAWC hypersonic missile program.
A source: DARPA
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