In a race for hypersonic, the US Air Force, US Army and US Navy are sharing funding, designs and pieces of technology in their effort to develop hypersonic weapons. The development approach relies on progressing several designs in parallel and borrowing features from other military services to fast-track the program.
US Army, Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW)
The US
Army’s LRHW will pair the Common
Hypersonic Glide Body with a US Navy booster rocket and
a mobile ground launching vehicle. The service testing the weapon from 2021. It
aims to transition the vehicle into a weapon by YEAR 2023 or 2024.
The program received $404 million in funding in FISCAL YEAR 2020 and the service received $801 million for FISCAL YEAR2021. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the effort.
US Navy, Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS)
The US Navy’s CPS program plans to carry the Common Hypersonic Glide Body atop a Ship-launched booster rocket. The service wants to achieve initial operating capability (IOC) on a Virginia-class submarine by 2026.
The program received $512 million in funding in FISCAL YEAR2020 and the service received $1.01 billion for FISCAL YEAR2021. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor developing the weapon system.
US Air Force, AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW)
The US Air Force’s leading hypersonic weapons program is its ARRW, a boost-glide weapon based on DARPA’s Tactical Boost Glide vehicle. Part of ARRW’s promise is its smaller size, which enables the B-52 to carry twice as many. A smaller size might also allow the ARRW to be carried on the F-15 and F-22 externally.
The service completed the first successful captive carry test of the vehicle under the wing of a B-52 in June 2019 and reportedly Air Force testing the weapon system. The US Air Force has said it wants ARRW to achieve service by 2023 or early 2024.
The program received $286 million in funding in FISCAL YEAR2020 and the service received $382 million in funding for FISCAL YEAR2021. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor.
US Air Force, Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW)
The HCSW was to be a boost-glide weapon that would use a modified version of the Common Hypersonic Glide Body and would be air launched from the B-52. The Air Force revealed that it intended to cancel the program when it was dropped from its FISCAL YEAR2021 budget proposal, released in February.
The HCSW was less advanced and larger than its compatriot ARRW, so under budget pressure the Air Force decided to cancel its participation in the program.
US Army, Operational Fires (Op-Fires)
The DARPA-run Op-Fires program is to be a ground-launched boost-glide system based on the Tactical Boost Glide vehicle. It will eventually be transitioned over to the US Army. The Op-Fires program received $50 million in FISCAL YEAR2020 and DARPA received another $40 million for FISCAL YEAR2021. Lockheed Martin is leading integration of Op-Fires.
US Air Force, Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC)
DARPA and the US Air Force’s HAWC is to be a air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile. While scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles are not as fast as the boost-glide variety, they can be smaller because they do not need to carry oxygen fuel at hypersonic speeds. Instead, they scoop air from the atmosphere. Reduced weight means missiles such as HAWC could be carried on a wider variety of aircraft.
The HAWC program received $20 million in FISCAL YEAR2020 and received $7 million for FISCAL YEAR2021.
A Raytheon-Northrop Grumman team and a Lockheed Martin-Aerojet Rocketdyne team are competing designs in the HAWC effort.
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