The US made its first breakthrough in the field of hypersonic weapons

МОСКВА, 01 октября 2021, Институт РУССТРАТ. The important news of recent days, of course, is the appearance of official information about the first successful flight test of an American hypersonic weapon. Let's try to understand this event and its consequences. The test was announced on September 27, 2021 by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the American corporation Raytheon. The first flight test of a prototype hypersonic air-launched cruise missile was conducted. This missile is being developed as part of a joint program between DARPA and the US Air Force called HAWC (Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept) in the interests of the US Air Force. Raytheon Missiles & Defence, Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman participate in the program. During the test, the rocket undocked from the aircraft, then the solid-fuel engine accelerated it to supersonic speed within a few seconds, after which the main engine running on a mixture of hydrocarbon fuel and air from Northrop Grumman Corporation started, the rocket reached hypersonic flight speed - more than Mach 5. DARPA rated the test as successful and noted that this is the first successful flight tests of hypersonic weapons manufactured in the United States since 2013. According to Raytheon Corporation, the test confirmed the ability of the glider and the HAWC propulsion system to reach and move at hypersonic speeds. If we describe the American HAWC hypersonic cruise missile in more understandable terms, then we are talking about an analogue to some extent of the Russian 3M22 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile. The only thing is that our missile belongs to sea-based missiles, and the American one belongs to air-based missiles. In addition, the "Zircon" has a higher speed, it reaches Mach 8-9. The flight range of the "Zircon" is more than 1000 km. According to the well-known Russian military expert Konstantin Sivkov, the range of the American HAWC missile is within 500-1000 km. General information about the HAWC program is presented in the latest update of the regular report "Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress" of the Congressional Research Service of the United States Congress dated August 25, 2021. The HAWC program "is aimed at developing and demonstrating the most important technologies that make it possible to create an effective and affordable hypersonic air-launched cruise missile”. Such a missile will be smaller than missile systems with hypersonic planning warheads designed by the US Department of Defence, and therefore will be able to be launched from a wider range of platforms. In addition, HAWC and other hypersonic cruise missiles make it easier to integrate guidance systems than hypersonic gliding warheads. In fiscal year 2021, $31 million was allocated for the HAWC program. The request for the 2022 fiscal year amounted to $10 million. The final review of the HAWC program is due to be completed in fiscal year 2022. It should be noted that of all the hypersonic weapons development programs in the United States, the most advanced has always been the AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) hypersonic missile development program for the US Air Force. This missile is an American analogue of the Russian hypersonic air-based missile system "Kinzhal", which was put on experimental combat duty on December 1, 2017. The deployment of the ARRW in the initial operational capability mode is scheduled for fiscal year 2022. The US Air Force requested $161 million in fiscal year 2022 for the purchase of 12 ARRW missiles. However, problems arose with the flight tests of this rocket: both test launches (April 5 and July 28, 2021) were unsuccessful. Therefore, the first successful flight test of an American hypersonic weapon, namely the prototype of the HAWC missile, should be considered the first breakthrough in the field of creating hypersonic weapons of the United States. It is obvious that it will take at least 2-3 years before a hypersonic air-launched cruise missile based on technologies developed under the HAWC program is put into service. At the same time, it can be stated that the countdown has begun, and the arrival of hypersonic weapons in the US Armed Forces is just a matter of time. At the same time, it should be understood that the United States has a highly developed industry capable of producing serial samples in large quantities and quickly saturate the US armed forces with advanced hypersonic systems. Such a development of events over time will to a certain extent deprive Moscow of a unilateral advantage in the possession of hypersonic weapons, which is observed at the moment. It is obvious that for Russia, the issue of creating means of combating hypersonic weapons of a potential enemy is on the agenda. This situation is not new for us, and it was officially predicted back in June 2020. Russian President Vladimir Putin said then that when other countries create hypersonic weapons, Russia will be able to "pleasantly surprise" its partners by developing means to combat these weapons. During the annual press conference on December 17, 2020, the President of Russia repeated this thesis, announcing active work on the creation of technologies that can stop the use of hypersonic weapons developed by opponents. Vladimir Putin noted that so far only Russia has hypersonic weapons, however, according to him, the United States will soon develop similar weapons: "They will, of course, it is quite obvious. We will prepare for this time. You asked what we are working on. Including this one. Working on an antidote to future hyperweapons in other leading armies of the world. I am sure we will do it." The statements of the Russian commander-in-chief inspire confidence and optimism. We are waiting for official information about the practical results of work in Russia on the creation of means to combat hypersonic weapons of a potential enemy.