Ukraine: Russian hypersonic missile hits ammunition depot
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Hypersonic objects are those that travel in excess of five times the speed of sound, or 3,806mph. While the ability to travel and manoeuvre at these speeds presents a significant engineering challenge — as the physical properties of the airflow around the object in question change significantly while the heat generated from friction and air resistance rises — such potentially allows missiles to evade present-day air defences and anti-ballistic missile systems. The sheer speed of such hypersonic missiles also makes them both better able to penetrate heavily shielded targets and capable of destroying targets with their kinetic energy alone, without even factoring in a payload of high explosives.
America’s most recent hypersonic missile test was conducted by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force — and utilised a design developed by the aerospace firm Lockheed Martin.
During the test, the so-called Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) was released from a B-52 bomber before being boosted to above the speed of sound in order to ignite its Aerojet Rocketdyne scramjet engine.
A scramjet, short for “supersonic-combustion ramjet”, is a type of jet engine with no major moving parts in which the craft’s forward motion draws in air into an intake at speeds greater than the speed of sound, compresses it, and then injects and combusts fuel to provide thrust.
Having fired its scramjet, DARPA said, the HAWC missile rapidly accelerated to hypersonic speeds — that is, greater than five times the speed of sound — and travelled for more than 345 miles, reaching altitudes of greater than 65,000 feet above sea level.
According to DARPA, this is the second successful test flight in their HAWC programme, with a different design from another contractor having also achieved hypersonic flight last September. According to CNN, the latest test took place in mid-March.
DARPA HAWC programme manager Andrew Knoedler said that hypersonic weapons “offer the potential for military operations from longer ranges with shorter response times and enhanced effectiveness compared to current military systems.
“Such systems could provide a significant payoff for future US offensive strike operations, particularly as adversaries’ capabilities advance.
“This Lockheed Martin HAWC flight test successfully demonstrated a second design that will allow our warfighters to competitively select the right capabilities to dominate the battlefield.
“These achievements increase the level of technical maturity for transitioning HAWC to a service programme of record.”
“We are still analysing flight test data, but are confident that we will provide the US Air Force and Navy with excellent options to diversify the technology available for their future missions.”
The announcement comes less than three weeks after Russia used its own hypersonic “Kinzhal” missiles — the name translates to “dagger” — outside of its own borders for the first time.
The advanced weapons were used to destroy an underground weapons depot in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, alongside a fuel depot in the city of Mykolaiv.
First publicly unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 1, 2018, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic missile system — which he called “the ideal weapon” — is said to have a maximum operating range of 1,800 miles.
Prior to the missile’s release, its carrying aircraft accelerates to its maximum possible speed, which in the case of the MiG-31K fighter jet is 1,864 miles per hour.
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After disconnecting from the aircraft, the missile fires up its solid-propellant-driven engine and accelerates to some 10–12 times the speed of sound — around 7,670–9,200mph.
It is believed that the Kinzhal was developed by building on the aero-ballistic missile of Russia’s ground-based Iskander-M tactical missile system, which has an operational range of around 311 miles.
Each Kh-47M2 customarily carries a payload of around 1,000 pounds of a high-explosive warhead — however, they can also be armed with a similarly-sized nuclear weapon that explodes with the force of 100,000–500,000 tonnes’ worth of trinitrotoluene (TNT).
According to TASS, Kinzhal missiles have been in deployment as part of “experimental combat duty” since at least the December of 2017.
Some commentators have expressed concern over the timing of the US’s hypersonic test announcement, suggesting that it risks escalating global tensions.
In fact, early last month, the US delayed and then cancelled a ballistic missile test on very similar grounds — although Pentagon press secretary John Kirby noted that this decision was motivated by a desire to demonstrate that America is “a responsible nuclear power”.
According to CNN, the decision to delay the announcement of the successful test by a couple of weeks was made based on the fact that US President Joe Biden was about to make a trip to Europe.
Vox foreign policy writer Jonathan Guyer tweeted: “All the world’s most important arms-control treaties are falling apart, while the US, Russia, and China are launching hypersonic missiles.
“Where is the effort to regulate super-fast weapons?”
Others, in contrast, saw the development as having the potential to address the ongoing situation around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Former Bulgarian foreign minister Dr Solomon Passy said: “The US tested a hypersonic missile in mid-March but kept it quiet to avoid escalating tensions with Russia.
“Tensions with Russia will be calmed down only by a much stronger NATO presence in the Black Sea.”
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