Army Tests Hypersonic Weapon over the Pacific

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 17 November 2011 | No Byline

[The Pack Knight]

HONOLULU (AP) — The Army on Thursday conducted its first flight test of a new weapon capable of traveling five times the speed of sound.

The Army launched the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon from the military's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai at about 1:30 a.m.

The weapon's "glide vehicle" reached Kwajalein Atoll — some 2,300 miles away — in less than half an hour, said Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Earlier this year, the Congressional Research Service said in a report the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon is part of the military's program to develop "prompt global strike" weapons that would allow the U.S. to strike targets anywhere in the world with conventional weapons in as little as an hour.

The Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, are developing a similar vehicle.

The Pentagon said the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, or AHW, vehicle is designed to fly long ranges within the earth's atmosphere at speeds that are at least five times the speed of sound.

[The Pack Knight]

This is going to be a key technology going forward. I just hope we have a government that will allow hypersonic weapons to be developed and deployed.

[A_Former_Democrat]

Keeping us safe. God bless the inventors, developers, makers and US Military.

[isthisnickcool]

America!

[garjog]

Just in time to make right some stuff in Iran?

[Eye of Unk]

This and railguns on cruisers, what will they think of next!

[caww]

Hats off to our guys...brilliant! and beyond impressive.

[USNBandit]

...what will they think of next!

[Talisker]

The Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, are developing a similar vehicle.

Why?

[max americana]

I’d rather pay for this stuff than subsidizing freeloaders and liberal programs.

[jttpwalsh]

Not that I mind, but I would think this would be an Air Force weapon, not an Army one. Good job Soldiers !

[Sonny M]

I’m still hoping for the day when we get hypersonic airline travel (and obviously without the boom)........that will be the ultimate tech breakthrough.

[LyinLibs]

Mach 5?

The last time Obama saw something move that fast, it was Larry Sinclair’s hand in his pants.

[Moonman62]

Angry sea bass.

[Tallguy]

The Army did a lot of the work on early ballistic missiles because they had the German emigres working at their Huntsville arsenal. The USAF eventually got control when the missions got sorted out.

[jetson]

Now if the socialists in charge of our country don’t give the design to the Chicoms, we have an advantage.

[The Theophilus]

Now if the socialists in charge of our country don’t give the design to the Chicoms, we have an advantage.

I'm pretty sure it was a joint effort. The US dumps money into the R&D and we pay Chicom "consultants" to go over every inch of the project to make sure that the developers didn't violate too many environmental regulations.

[TomGuy]

A few days ago we had a thread about a new bigger badder bunker buster, too.

B-2 Bomber Gets Boeing's New 30,000-Pound Bunker-Buster Bomb

11/16/2011 5:51:03 AM PST · by lbryce · 38 replies San Francisco Chronicle ^ | November 15, 2011 | Tony Capaccio The U.S. Air Force has taken delivery of a new 30,000-pound bomb from Boeing Co. that's capable of penetrating deeply buried enemy targets. The huge bunker buster, dubbed the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, is built to fit the B-2 stealth bomber. The Air Force Global Strike Command started receiving the bombs in September, Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jack Miller said in a short statement to Bloomberg News. The deliveries "will meet requirements for the current operational need," he said. The Air Force in 2009 said Boeing might build as many as 16 of the munitions. Miller yesterday had no details...

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Too bad it was not aimed at Washington, District of Crooks.

[PapaBear3625]

The Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, are developing a similar vehicle. Why?

The Army version is launched on top of a booster rocket. I would presume the Air Force version would be launchable from a B-52 or B-2. This would give them the ability to launch what would effectively be a ballistic missile, but without any ballistic missile launch signature.

[jetson]

Now if the socialists in charge of our country don’t give the design to the Chicoms, we have an advantage.

I'm pretty sure it was a joint effort. The US dumps money into the R&D and we pay Chicom "consultants" to go over every inch of the project to make sure that the developers didn't violate too many environmental regulations.

WHAT!?