Page 11 - ADT JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2020 Digital Magazine | GBP

intercontinental ballistic missile.

Hot on the Heels
Knowing well that it cannot afford to lag behind
too much, the United States has been work-
ing on the development of its own hypersonic [ COVER STORY ]
weapons. In 2018, there was consensus
within the Congress for a law that provided
an October 2022 deadline for an American
hypersonic weapon to be operational. In 2019,
US$2.6 billion was set aside for hypersonic
weapons. National security industry experts
forecast the annual budget to touch US$5 bil-
lion, and the military to have two deployable
systems, by 2025. While the U.S. is focusing
launched from a MiG-31K. According to military sources, the missile only on conventional payloads, China and
can fly ten times faster than the speed of sound and has a range Russia are developing both conventional and
of more than 2,000 kilometers. Capable of carrying a nuclear or nuclear delivery methods.
a conventional warhead, the missile is designed to hit both land
targets and navy ships.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services
Committee in March 2018, Air Force Gen. John
A Real Game Changer Hyten, who was then head of the U.S. Strategic
It is easy to see why hypersonic weapons are coveted by militaries; Command, admitted that the U.S. did not have
they are capable of striking anywhere on the globe in less than an the capability to stop hypersonic weapons. "We
hour and thus can change the way wars are fought. Hypersonic have a very difficult — well, our defence is our
missiles - which are ultra-fast like ballistic missiles and also maneu- deterrent capability,” Gen. Hyten, who is now
verable like cruise missiles - can obliterate targets in a flash and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.
are incredibly hard to defend against in the absence of any sonic “We don't have any defense that could deny
booms. Aware that such an unstoppable weapon provides them the employment of such a weapon against
not only a major competitive edge on the battlefield but also acts us, so our response would be our deterrent
as a powerful deterrent, most of the major militaries – including force, which would be the triad and the nuclear
the United States, China and India - have been working toward capabilities that we have to respond to such a
achieving the capability. threat.”

While the ‘Kinzhal’ is a cruise-type missile that is powered through- Lockheed Martin in the Lead
out its flight, a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) like the Avangard, A few weeks after Gen. Hyten’s remarks,
is launched atop a ballistic missile but separates from it and then Lockheed Martin won an U.S. Air Force contract
moves towards its target unpowered. Unlike a regular missile worth US$928 million, to develop a hypersonic
warhead that follows a predictable path, an HGV makes sharp conventional strike weapon (HCSW) that can
maneuvers in the atmosphere on the way to its target, making it be launched by Air Force fighter jets and
almost impossible for the enemy to defeat it. Avangard, which had B-52 bomber. Four months later, it signed a
been in development for three decades, is designed to sit atop an
US$480 million deal to develop a hypersonic
air-launched, rapid response weapon (ARRW).
The weapons are to be developed before
November 2021. In June last year, Lockheed
Martin announced that the Air Force had suc-
cessfully flight-tested a hypersonic weapon
prototype from a B-52 Stratofortress bomber.
Since receiving its first hypersonic weapons
contract from the Air Force, Lockheed has won
similar contracts from the Army and the Navy
as well, thus taking a clear lead over other com-
panies in the field. Anticipating more work in the
high-focus area, the company broke ground in
Alabama, in September last year, for new facili-
ties to develop, test and produce the weapons.
In August 2019, the U.S. Army awarded Lockheed
Martin a US$347 million as part of a multi-year
hypersonic weapons development for the Army.

ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY January/February 2020 | 11