Page 31 - ADT SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2022 Online Magazine

ments and be fired from beyond the reach of
enemy air defences. In June last year, the Air
Force awarded 15-month SCIFiRE contracts to
Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin to finish  HYPERSONIC
preliminary designs for a hypersonic cruise mis-
sile as part of the programme. In September,
the U.S. Air Force on Thursday awarded a US
$985 million contract to Raytheon to develop
and demonstrate scramjet-powered hypersonic
cruise missiles. The company will deliver two
HACMs; the service is looking to use the HACM
in combat by 2027.

“HACM is a powerful example of developing
and integrating combat capabilities alongside
our partners from the beginning,” says Chief of
Staff Gen. CQ Brown. “HACM will provide our
commanders with tactical flexibility to employ
fighters to hold high-value, time-sensitive tar-
gets at risk, while maintaining bombers for other
strategic targets.” a regular missile warhead that follows a predictable path, an HGV
makes sharp maneuvers in the atmosphere on the way to its target,
It is easy to see why hypersonic weapons are making it almost impossible for the enemy to defeat it. Avangard,
coveted by militaries; they are capable of strik- which had been in development for three decades, is designed to
ing anywhere on the globe in less than an hour sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile.
and thus can change the way wars are fought.
Hypersonic missiles - which are ultra-fast like ACTIVITY ACROSS REGIONS
ballistic missiles and also maneuverable like
cruise missiles - can obliterate targets in a flash Keen to build up its military might so that it is not dwarfed by China,
and are incredibly hard to defend against in the India tested a weaponizable Hypersonic Technology Development
absence of any sonic booms. Aware that such Vehicle (HSTDV) in 2019. The country is also developing a hypersonic
an unstoppable weapon provides them not only missile, Brahmos II, the hypersonic version of its anti-ship/land-at-
a major competitive edge on the battlefield but tack Brahmos supersonic cruise missile. A joint venture between
also acts as a powerful deterrent, most of the Russia and India, Brahmos II will have a speed of more than Mach 5
major militaries – including the United States, and will be powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet, or “scram-
China, and India - have been working toward jet,” engine. Brahmos II was projected to be operational by 2013, but
achieving the capability. progress has been slow. In 2018, Sudhir Mishra, the chief executive
of Brahmos Aerospace, said that it would take an additional seven
to ten years for Brahmos to reach hypersonic speeds.

“BrahMos Aerospace is capable of making hypersonic missiles. In
five to six years, we will be able to have our first hypersonic missile
by BrahMos,” said Atul Rane, CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace, in
June this year.

Other nations have not been sitting idle. France and the United
Kingdom are working together to develop a new missile as part
of the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon programme. The missile,
which will be funded with money from France’s Direction générale
de l’armement (DGA) and the U.K.’s Defence Equipment and Support
(DE&S), will be produced by European missile manufacturer MBDA.
The stealthy, hypersonic missile will be powered by a ramjet motor,
While the ‘Kinzhal’ is a cruise-type missile that is and be capable of being used in land attacks as well as in anti-
powered throughout its flight, a hypersonic glide ship applications, both launched from the air or from submarines.
vehicle (HGV) like the Avangard, is launched Germany and Japan have their own hypersonic weapon devel-
atop a ballistic missile but separates from it and opment programmes, with Japan’s focus being on developing a
then moves towards its target unpowered. Unlike weapon that will be ready for testing by 2025.
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