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US Air Force says it will test bizarre 'hypersonic' weapon this month
space.com ^ | 3/16/21 | Rafi Letzter

Posted on 03/17/2021 9:02:15 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal

At some point in the next few weeks, a B-52H bomber will carry a missile high into the air and launch it at an unprecedented velocity toward its target, according to the U.S. Air Force. If everything goes according to plan, that missile will accelerate to more than five times the speed of sound before deploying a dummy second stage that will promptly "disintegrate" somewhere in the atmosphere.

The missile, known as AGM-183A, is supposed to be the first hypersonic weapon — or Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) — in the U.S. arsenal. It should move so quickly through the atmosphere — about 20 times the speed of sound — at such low altitudes that it's impossible for enemy missile defense systems to shoot out of the air. And its speed means that it can be useful for destroying "high-value, time-sensitive targets," the Air Force said in a statement.

Hypersonic missile designs, including this one, typically involve two stages.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: agm183a; arrw; b52h; hypersonicmissile; military; test; usaf
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To: GraceG

Will they name it the “Kraken”?


61 posted on 03/17/2021 11:34:43 AM PDT by 353FMG
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To: RitchieAprile

“Science fiction”

No, FR humor


62 posted on 03/17/2021 11:43:55 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: shotgun

Yes,this puppy is so fast that Obama wouldn’t have had time to worn of his imminent strike list so the enemy could chain hostages to the target, like he did in his bombing of ISIS targets.


63 posted on 03/17/2021 1:41:47 PM PDT by Candor7 ((Obama Fascism:http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html) )
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To: null and void

No. I’ll bite.


64 posted on 03/17/2021 1:51:04 PM PDT by I-ambush (From the brightest star comes the blackest hole; you had so much to offer, did you offer your soul?)
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To: allendale
"Does enough of a common consensus of values continue to exist in the American nation among its people that enough rational men are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice on its behalf to preserve it?
A hypersonic missile will not save the nation."

Advanced weapons like a hypersonic missile could destroy a nation, regardless of how many "rational men...willing to make the ultimate sacrifice" we have -- witness the A-bomb on suicidally fanatic Japan in 1945.
That's the reason we must stay ahead of the technological curve.

65 posted on 03/17/2021 2:36:31 PM PDT by BroJoeK ((a little historical perspective...) )
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To: Manly Warrior

How do you know? Are you a fan of Leik Maraibo? How about Paul La Violette?


66 posted on 03/17/2021 2:59:50 PM PDT by Kevmo (WTF? My tagline disappeared.)
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To: Mariner

The trick is to make it long, thin, and have control of the boundary layer.

100 years ago, Oscar Schrenk and Ludwig Prandtl showed that supersonic control of the boundary layer would yield 8x increase in lift coefficient.

To put it in terms of velocity:
The drag due to uncontrolled turbulent layer viscosity boundary layer in supersonic (let alone hypersonic) craft went up with the CUBE of velocity.

You wanna increase 2X velocity? You need 2^3 more power to overcome drag. You want 3x, you need (3x)^3 which is 27X more power to overcome drag. You want 4X velocity, —> (4X)^3 is 64X more power to overcome the drag.

Folks started talkin’ about a “sound barrier”.

The trick was to control the boundary layer so that not so much drag builds up, in such a way that (2x)^3 was more like 2.5X more power, and 3X ^3 was more like 3.8 X more power, and (4x)^3 was more like 5.5X more power. Eminently doable in 1945 Boundary Layer Control technology.

It was germans who focused on suction for boundary layer control in the 1920’s and 1930’s. They almost came to fruition by the end of the war but.... the Allies won the war.

2 years later you see Suction Boundary Layer Control experimental aircraft all over US air bases across the nation. Some of them even crash.


67 posted on 03/17/2021 3:10:07 PM PDT by Kevmo (WTF? My tagline disappeared.)
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To: Manly Warrior; GardenerForLife
"Drag and friction can be ameliorated by using a laser to create a plasma in front of a projectile, reducing resistance and therefore drag for the missile to travel through."

Naw... there's much better ways.

First, you need ion propulsion to generate a sub-space warp field and using sequenced teleported deflector shields to prevent drag on plasma projectiles, accuracy is guaranteed by locking in teleportation coordinates and then beaming up Scotty to keep him out of the way.

68 posted on 03/17/2021 3:10:11 PM PDT by BroJoeK ((a little historical perspective...) )
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To: I-ambush

One is a hollow cylinder, the other is a silly Hollander...


69 posted on 03/17/2021 3:25:06 PM PDT by null and void (The media decides what news you can see and NOT SEE. But don't you dare call 'em Not-Sees)
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To: Magnum44

The BC is a comparison of a bullet to a model bullet, the model is a 1.0.

G1 us a model based on a 1 caliber diameter, 1 caliber bearing surface and a two caliber tangent ogive (pronounced O Gee).

G7 is a boatailed bullet more like modern designs.

Better yet is drag coefficient, a purely mathematical model based in modern ballistic formulae.

Anyway, a missile is not ballistic in the bullet sense, as it is powered throughout its trajectory until some point perhaps....


70 posted on 03/17/2021 6:45:53 PM PDT by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret), "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War" )
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To: Manly Warrior

Having spent decades in aerospace, and being a precision loader/shooter, I don’t disagree with what you say. The issue was the article implies the missing part of the test is a hypersonic ‘glider’. Not much point in having the glider if it takes the powered rocket to get you halfway round the globe to the target.


71 posted on 03/17/2021 7:08:33 PM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
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To: Magnum44

Perhaps the terminal aspect us the easy part. Getting a HS vehicle to destroy itself may be the critical aspect....


72 posted on 03/17/2021 7:32:41 PM PDT by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret), "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War" )
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To: Manly Warrior

Sure.


73 posted on 03/17/2021 7:45:47 PM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
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To: I-ambush

“It’s too phallic. We should make ring-shaped missiles.

It’s a man spreading missile.
The designers must go to immediate sensitivity training and re design the shape of the missile.
Give it a less male look, more inclusive .


74 posted on 03/17/2021 8:01:26 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Leave me alone, I have no incriminating evidence on the Clintons)
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