America to build super weapons;US-based missiles to cover world

Guardian ^ | 07/01/03 | Julian Borger

[Pikamax]

America to build super weapons

US-based missiles to cover world

Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday July 1, 2003 The Guardian

The Pentagon is planning a new generation of weapons, including huge hypersonic drones and bombs dropped from space, that will allow the US to strike its enemies at lightning speed from its own territory. Over the next 25 years, the new technology would free the US from dependence on forward bases and the cooperation of regional allies, part of the drive towards self-sufficiency spurred by the difficulties of gaining international cooperation for the invasion of Iraq.

The new weapons are being developed under a programme codenamed Falcon (Force Application and Launch from the Continental US).

A US defence website earlier this month invited bids from contractors to develop the technology and the current edition of Jane's Defence Weekly reports that the first flight tests are scheduled to take place within three years.

According to the website run by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) the programme is aimed at fulfilling "the government's vision of an ultimate prompt global reach capability (circa 2025 and beyond)".

The Falcon technology would "free the US military from reliance on forward basing to enable it to react promptly and decisively to destabilising or threatening actions by hostile countries and terrorist organisations", according to the Darpa invitation for bids.

The ultimate goal would be a "reusable hypersonic cruise vehicle (HCV) ... capable of taking off from a conventional military runway and striking targets 9,000 nautical miles distant in less than two hours".

The unmanned HCV would carry a payload of up to 12,000 lbs and could ultimately fly at speeds of up to 10 times the speed of sound, according to Daniel Goure, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute in Washington.

Propelling a warhead of that size at those speeds poses serious technological challenges and Darpa estimates it will take more than 20 years to develop.

Over the next seven years, meanwhile, the US air force and Darpa will develop a cheaper "global reach" weapons system relying on expendable rocket boosters, known as small launch vehicles (SLV) that would take a warhead into space and drop it over its target.

In US defence jargon, the warhead is known as a Common Aero Vehicle (Cav), an unpowered bomb which would be guided on to its target as it plummeted to earth at high and accelerating velocity.

The Cav could carry 1,000 lbs of explosives but at those speeds explosives may not be necessary. A simple titanium rod would be able to penetrate 70 feet of solid rock and the shock wave would have enormous destructive force. It could be used against deeply buried bunkers, the sort of target the air force is looking for new ways to attack.

Jane's Defence Weekly reported that the first Cav flight demonstration is provisionally scheduled by mid-2006, and the first SLV flight exercise would take place the next year. A test of the two systems combined would be carried out by late 2007.

A prototype demonstrating HCV technology would be tested in 2009.

SLV rockets will also give the air force a cheap and flexible means to launch military satellites at short notice, within weeks, days or even hours of a crisis developing.

The SLV-Cav combination, according to the Darpa document, "will provide a near-term (approximately 2010) operational capability for prompt global strike from Consus (the continental US) while also enabling future development of a reusable HCV for the far-term (approximately 2025)". The range of this weapon is unclear.

[Pyro7480]

Two words: totally cool!

[templar]

Wonder what it will cost; both to develop and to use.

[Neanderthal]

If we can do it our enemies will be able to do it someday too. I hope it takes them a while.

[Gabrielle Reilly]

Have not had time to read thread today or this article.

Here is a ping incase it is interesting.

[Salman]

bump

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[USNBandit]

Here we go again, a 21st century version of the B-36. I can hear the Air Force calling for reductions in CV battlegroups and infantry divisions already.

[Southack]

"If we can do it our enemies will be able to do it someday too. I hope it takes them a while."

Nonsense.

Only two nations have *ever* put a Man into space. We did so more than four decades ago.

We're the **only** nation to ever put Men on the Moon. That was more than 3 full decades ago.

Only a dozen nations have figured out how to build an atomic bomb, something that we did more than half a century ago during World War Two.

Only one nation has undetectable submarines, and that's us.

Only one nation has stealth fighters and bombers, again, that's us.

Call me when other nations figure out how to get a man to the Moon. Until then, other nations can't do squat.

But we can do it all.

[LasVegasMac]

America to build super weapons

US-based missiles to cover world

Moscow, Bejing, Tehran, Paris, all of North Korea, will soon be smoldering ruins. Our embedded reporters will have it all. Stay tuned for film at 11.

Sorry. the first two lines just beg for the liberal rant / rave - that was what I was expecting.

The line on which demoRat will be the first to scream about it?

LVM

[Filibuster_60]

All the major military powers are in fact researching hypsersonic aircraft. As far as timeframes go, the Chinese announced in '01 that it'll take as little as 15 years for them to get a prototype flying.

[Ronin]

The unmanned HCV would carry a payload of up to 12,000 lbs and could ultimately fly at speeds of up to 10 times the speed of sound...

I know what I want for my birthday now.

[Filibuster_60]

If the Russians team up with the Chinese they won't be too far behind. After all the Russians never sent anyone to the moon yet they arguably have the best heavy-lift rockets in the world, far more cost-effective than our space shuttle has been.

[aruanan]

A simple titanium rod would be able to penetrate 70 feet of solid rock and the shock wave would have enormous destructive force.

A more precise form of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

[aruanan]

As far as timeframes go, the Chinese announced in '01 that it'll take as little as 15 years for them to get a prototype flying.

That was back when they figured they'd have Gore or Hillary in the White House to keep the technological pipeline flowing for them.

[Filibuster_60]

Actually their announcement came right after 9/11.

[chaosagent]

"A simple titanium rod would be able to penetrate 70 feet of solid rock and the shock wave would have enormous destructive force."

Project Thor lives!

[Filibuster_60]

Something related of interest:

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/hyperx.html

Hyper-X is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, "air-breathing" engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. The test vehicle for the project is designated the X-43A. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden’s primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort.

The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research.

"We're finally getting down to testing the basic science of a new propulsion system that could ultimately alter commercial aerospace and national security," said Charles Vick, acting director of space policy for the Federation of American Scientists. "It's a big step forward for aerospace technology."

It would come after repeated setbacks to design of a hypersonic craft. A $2.5-billion Reagan-era hypersonic program, based in Southern California, was scuttled.

With one short flight, to begin off the coast of Los Angeles, NASA officials say dreams of a commercial airliner that can fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in two hours instead of 10 is one step closer to reality. The military's vision calls for a bomber that would be too fast to shoot down.

Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic vehicles will be able to carry heavier payloads.

Another unique aspect of the X-43A vehicle is the airframe integration. The body of the vehicle itself forms critical elements of the engine. The forebody acts as part of the intake for airflow and the aft section serves as the nozzle.

The X-43A vehicles were manufactured by Micro Craft, Inc., Tullahoma, Tennessee. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Chandler, Arizona, built the Pegasus rocket booster used to launch the X-43 vehicles. For the Dryden research flights, the Pegasus rocket booster and attached X-43 will be air launched by Dryden’s B-52 "Mothership." After release from the B-52, the booster will accelerate the X-43A vehicle to the established test conditions (Mach 7 to 10) at an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet where the X-43 will separate from the booster and fly under its own power and preprogrammed control.

As the lead Center for the flight-research effort, Dryden engineers are working closely with their colleagues from Langley and industry to refine the design of the X-43A vehicles. Dryden also is managing the fabrication of both the X-43A vehicles and the expendable booster rockets that will serve as launch vehicles. Dryden also will perform flight-research planning as well as some vehicle instrumentation and provide control of the tests.

The program was kicked off by President Reagan less than a week after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 in a State of the Union address in which he described an "Orient Express" that could by 2000 "take off from Dulles Airport, accelerate up to 25 times the speed of sound . . . flying to Tokyo within two hours."

But with the recession and Congress under pressure from critics who argued that such a plane would not fly, funding dwindled prompting several aerospace companies to abandon or significantly scale down the project.

NASA kept up the research, however, tapping into studies completed for the National Aero-Space Plane. The project left a legacy of about 20 trailers filled with invaluable research papers and data, NASA officials said.

The X-43A test flight comes as a recent study by the Air Force's Scientific Advisory panel warned that several other countries were developing hypersonic aircraft that could pose both national-security and commercial threats to the U.S. The report, which echoes warnings made more than 10 years ago during the Reagan era, said extensive work was being undertaken in such countries as Russia, France, Japan, China and India.

Particularly worrisome were reports that the countries were focusing on developing hypersonic cruise missiles.

The report said "hypersonic offers the promise of a unique set of capabilities and attributes that can dramatically expand and improve Air Force core competencies and mission." It ended by recommending that a national strategy be resurrected.

[zarf]

And it would cost the equivalent of the entire GNP of the United States from 1776 to 2003....and that doesn't include the cost of the engine in the delivery vehicle.

[Pukin Dog]

If we can do it our enemies will be able to do it someday too. I hope it takes them a while.

Not really. These things take CASH, manufacturing capacity and will. Besides that, once done, the US can prohibit any followers at the point of our spear.