U.S. Army Tests Hypersonic Prototype, Weapon Can Strike Any Target in an Hour
The U.S. Army tested its Advanced Hypersonic Weapon yesterday, and it was found that the futuristic prototype could allow the military to strike any target on earth in just one hour.
The flying weapon was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii and landed briskly over 2,000 miles away at the Reagan Test Site near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
To be considered hypersonic, the craft had to fly at least at Mach 5, which is 3,805 mph, at sea level. This makes the vehicle’s super speed into a tactical advantage.
Along with being extraordinarily fast, the U.S. Army’s prototype flies at a flat trajectory through the atmosphere, as opposed to ballistic missiles that fly up and then back down on a target.
The Pentagon’s research division, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, monitored the proceedings, checking data on aerodynamics, navigation, and control performance. In addition, DARPA recorded the thermal protection technology designed to protect the aircraft from the high temperatures while shooting through the atmosphere.
For the past two years, the U.S. Army has tested hypersonic technology, and now, it seems it will come to fruition in the new weapon prototype. However, they are not the only branches of the military to venture into hypersonic territory.
The Pentagon also tried its hand at hypersonic weaponry: DARPA’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 managed to achieve a blistering Mach 20 this past August.
The U.S. Air Force also tried hypersonic, using the X-51A Waverider vessel to test a new air-breathing scramjet engine. Its most recent test showed the Waverider reaching Mach 5, and then failing to switch to its main power engines.
The Army’s prototype differs from the others in that it is fired upwards by a rocket, then propelled further by other boosters, and finally released to fly on its own in the upper atmosphere. The three-stage booster system allows the vehicle to rely on other means of propulsion until it has reached the optimal altitude.
