US military launches rocket to test hypersonic weapons to develop new defence class

The US military on Wednesday conducted a test launch of a rocket carrying experiments for hypersonic weapons development at the Wallops Flight Test Facility in Virginia. The rocket carried 11 experiments designed and programmed to test and collect data essential for the research into hypersonic weapons to support the joint Army-Navy program, the US Navy stated, reported CNN.

This was the second such test carried out under the program. The joint venture by US Army and the US Navy focuses on developing both sea and land-based hypersonic capabilities. The first test was conducted in October 2021.

In this test, a sounding rocket was fired, which carried out different experiments to gather data and collect information on components of hypersonic missiles. This included information on heat-resistant materials and high-end electronics.

Hypersonic program of the US Army and Navy

Describing the recent launch, director of Strategic Systems Programs Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe said, “The launch today went extremely well,” reported CNN. He added, “As a matter of fact, we’ve just gotten done looking through our key observables, and every piece of data that we wanted to collect - at least preliminarily - has shown that we collected all that data.”

Meanwhile, the US Navy revealed in a statement that a second rocket is scheduled for launch on Thursday with an objective to carry out an additional 13 experiments designed to inform hypersonic weapons development.

The data collected from these test launches will support the development of the US Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic system and the US Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon. A Common Hypersonic Glide Body will be utilized by both programs. It is a projectile carried atop a booster rocket that coasts towards its target at Hypersonic speeds.

Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds greater than Mach 5, or approximately 6174 Kilometers per hour, making them difficult to detect and intercept in time. The missiles are also capable of manoeuvring and changing altitude, allowing them to evade missile defence systems.

The development of hypersonic weapons was made one of the top priorities by the Pentagon after China conducted successful hypersonic launches last year. Moreover, Russia has begun to use hypersonic missiles against Ukrainian forces amid the war between the two nations.

Following a hypersonic weapon test by China in 2021, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley called the test “a very significant technological event.”

“The Chinese military capabilities are much greater than that” single hypersonic weapon’s test, Milley stated in October 2021, reported CNN. He added, “They’re expanding rapidly in space, in cyber and then in the traditional domains of land, sea and air.”