US military proposal to detonate hypersonic weapons in space is entering a new phase.The system, a “hypersonic defense interceptor” program called Glide Breaker, aims to combat easily controlled weapons that fly in space at a speed of at least Mach 5. (Mach 1 noise; “hypersonic” usually refers to moving vehicles. At least five times at a time).
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is now ready for Phase 2 of the program, which was first announced in 2018. The institute is seeking proposals for “air tunnel operation and aircraft flight test results,” DARPA officials announced. April 15.
Model validation and informs future design
The key to delivering Phase 2 is a set of data from the tunnel and aircraft testing that allows for model validation and informs future design activities, “DARPA said in its comprehensive agency announcement, which provides guidance to potential providers. and attitude control system “(DACS), which allows the” interceptor kill car “to direct the hypersonic missile arrows during flight. DARPA commented.
Participants in Phase 1 of the program included, at least, Northrop Grumman (awarded a $ 13 million contract, disclosed in January 2020) and AerojetRocketdyne ($ 12 million, disclosed in February 2020.)“In Phase 1 of the Glide Breaker program, two DACS prototypes able to achieve the desired performance objectives are designed and constructed and demonstrated,” DARPA said.
“The Phase 1 trial includes a partial examination and a fire-retardant demonstration of the integrated DACS prototypes,” added the organization, noting that participation in Phase 1 is not a requirement to join Phase 2.
Glide Breaker numbers are among the few DARPA programs focused on the hypersonic environment. For example, the agency recently announced that the Lockheed Martin hypersonic missile prototype flew at five times the speed of sound “for a long time.”This comes during a technical test on another program, the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC), which also launched another test in September 2021 by Raytheon Technologies.
Overall, US troops have been testing hypersonic capabilities for decades. Some of these past efforts include the X-20 Dyna-Soar of the 1950s that was designed to launch a rocket, the FALCON hypersonic system (short for Force Application and Launch from Continental United States) in the early 2000s and the Blackwash, which was available. later canceled.
Other countries, including Russia and China, are also clearly prioritizing the development of hypersonic weapons delivery systems, the operation of which makes them more difficult to track and deter than traditional missiles. It is therefore not surprising that DARPA operates in ways to combat hypersonic vehicles.
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