America to build super weapons

Guardian Newspaper ^ | 7/1/03 | Julian Borger

[Pro-Bush]

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.

[Pro-Bush]

Cool!

[Imal]

Where can I get mine?

But yeah, definitely cool. It's nice to see DARPA is still on the ball.

[kms61]

Very intersting technology...however, there are some implications for strategic doctrine that need to be thought through. The launch of one of these things could conceivably prompt a "use 'em or lose 'em" nuclear counterstrike by an adversary. While developing these weapons, we also need to be thinking carefully about how they would be employed.

[JasonC]

'prompt global strike from Consus...' "The range of this weapon is unclear"

Um, unclear to whom? Global means anywhere on the globe. It can't hit Mars. It can hit anything here.

That has this way of happening when you go into space first. When you can reach orbit if you like, the range measured on the ground goes to infinity.

[10mm]

America to build super weapons

[jwh_Denver]

This is pure propaganda. Not that the military doesn't want this weapon but we already have the technology to do the same thing. We did it with supposedly Saddam's bunker. Out of nowhere came the bombs and cruise missiles. But no clear results, at least from what we've been told. The weapon launched from outer space may bullseye the target but the target may be wrong. Military history has taught us so far that you've got to have ground forces to mop after any aerial assault.

[Pro-Bush]

I like the humor..Thanks!

[Pro-Bush]

Whatever dude..Technology we see is 20 years old.

[Caesar Soze]

Superweapons? A hyperpuissance requires hyperweapons!

"No! France is peaceful! We have no weapons!"

"You would prefer another target? A terrorist target? Then name the country."

"Iran. They're in Iran."

"You may fire when ready."

"What?"

"Iran is too distant to make an effective demonstration. But don't worry, we'll deal with your jihadist friends soon enough!"

-- Grand Moff Rumsfeld and Princess Chirac

[Ichneumon]

The Pentagon is planning a new generation of weapons, including huge hypersonic drones and bombs dropped from space

Looks like it's time to go to the video store and rent "Real Genius" again...

[DAnconia55]

Very intersting technology...however, there are some implications for strategic doctrine that need to be thought through. The launch of one of these things could conceivably prompt a "use 'em or lose 'em" nuclear counterstrike by an adversary. While developing these weapons, we also need to be thinking carefully about how they would be employed.

How would they see it launch?

[kms61]

I'm assuming they'll have some kind of space or ground based detection system. 25 years from now that should be within the technological capability of quite a number of nations.

Interesting technology...but we'll have to figure out how to integrate it into our defense strategy.

What's more interesting to me is something else briefly mentioned in the article....This technology offers the capability of putting payloads into space very cheaply, and eventually a true passenger carrying orbital spacecraft. That's when space exploration will finally reach critical mass, and no longer be subject to the funding whims of various national governments.

[kms61]

Further thoughts: While such technology presents a cheap way of getting into space, it would still be a hideously expensive way of getting a warhead from one side of the world to the other, unless there are some huge economies of scale that go along with it. So I doubt you'd see it used on a tactical level. More likely taking out high value strategic or leadership targets.

[eno_]

It can't hit Mars. It can hit anything here.

Not these, but I would not rule it out: Take a lump of tungsten, launch it waaaaaaaay the heck out, sling it around the moon, or, for special targets, a planet, and bring it back in at astronomical velocity, and you have an "artificial meteoroid" that could crack any buried structure anywhere on Earth.

[RusIvan]

How would they see it launch?===

Same how they do it now. Special sattelites with infrared sensors.
But anyway I don't understand how they will target those missiles? It have to be targeting sattelites in real time. But such sattelites may be killed easily in few minutes of conflict.

[Rudder]

Really cool...especially if we encourage domestic oil and gas production in a program moving rapidly toward energy independence.