Posted on 04/25/2025 12:53:58 PM PDT by Red Badger
The U.S. Army’s newest long-range hypersonic weapon will be called “Dark Eagle” the Pentagon announced Thursday after a successful test flight.
The land-based, truck-launched system is armed with hypersonic missiles that travel 3,800 miles per hour with a range of 1,725 miles. They can reach the top of the Earth’s atmosphere and “remain just beyond the range of air and missile defense systems until they are ready to strike, and by then it’s too late to react,” according to Army statements in a March 2023 Congressional Research Service report.
In December, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs, completed a successful end-to-end flight test of a conventional hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
“Hypersonic weapons will complicate adversaries’ decision calculus, strengthening deterrence,” said Patrick Mason, senior official performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. “Their speed, accuracy and versatility are befitting its new popular name, Dark Eagle.”
Army officials repeatedly delayed tests of the Dark Eagle system after failures in 2021 and 2022, according to the CRS report.
The U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office and the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs partnered to get land and sea variants of a hypersonic weapon system.
The use of a common hypersonic missile and joint test opportunities allow the services to pursue a more aggressive timeline for delivery and to realize cost savings, according to the Pentagon.
A Congressional Budget Office study from January 2023, buying 300 Intermediate-Range Hypersonic Boost-Glide Missiles, which are similar to the LRHW, was estimated to cost $41 million per missile in 2023 dollars.
But that’s just an estimate. Since the 2023 CBO cost estimate, the Pentagon has said little about the per missile cost of the LRHW.
With the Army planning to field LRHWs to units by the end of FY2025 – if the Army’s new leadership team concurs – an actual per missile cost should be available for policymakers,” according to the CRS note. “With an established per missile cost, the Army should also be able to provide Congress with details about the total LRHW stockpile it intends to procure and how long it will take to ‘grow’ the LRHW stockpile.”
The prime contractors on the project are Lockheed Martin, Dynetics Inc. and Dynetics Technical Solutions, according to the CBO report.
Good news, some of us still welcome it.
Just recently there were people talking about how much damage it had and saying they were concerned that it was going to fail on its own. Given the state of their construction industry Im not entirely convinced that even if they did repairs it would stand much longer.
-three gorges dam is one of the most massive structures on earth nothing short of megaton yield nuclear weapons are going to damage it.-
Our Bunker Buster bombs are designed to damage reinforced cement structures like this dam and you only have to weaken the already stressed dam to let the 40 cubic kilometers of water behind the dam destroy it.
The dam also has two series of locks to allow ships to move up and down the river which are softer targets. While the locks are not under pressure, if you allow a path for the water from the reservoir to the river below the dam through the locks, erosion will quickly destroy it.
While I’m not an expert and certainly don’t think it is a good idea, I think it would be a doable thing well short of nukes.
Dude that’s just a ludicrous statement. That dam could be taken out with a wide variety of conventional weaponry, a GBU-57A/B would punch its ticket NO problem.
Who else? Morons, I mean.
Commercial harbors, train stations, highways, factories, dams, oil refineries, electrical distribution systems, military bases. Aqueducts, airfields, missile sites, navy harbors...that will slow them down enough to let other countries invade and take over. Russia and India come to mind. Not to mention Southeast Asia.
I do see you are a big fan of thermonuclear war, however. With your more than moronic suggestion, which if carried out would win you a 10 megaton prize.
Sooner or later threats have to be dealt with. Nuclear weapons will never be used? Of course they will be. Hate to break it to you. Humans.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.