The United States Air Force is developing a Hypersonic bomber, and commercial aviation is exploring Mach 5 and higher speeds.
The Air Force has recently completed an impressive final test of a scramjet-powered Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, which it calls the most successful program of its type in U.S. history.
Future of Hypersonic Airbreathing Missiles
Monday, the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced that the weapon system successfully flew at Mach 5 for 300 nautical miles at an altitude of 60,000 feet. This is an impressive feat, but the results do not specify how long the
missile maintained hypersonic velocity.
“This month’s flight added an exclamation point to the most successful hypersonic airbreathing flight test program in the United States,” said Walter Price, a USAF deputy on the HAWC program. The lessons we’ve learned from HAWC will undoubtedly improve the future capabilities of the U.S. Air Force.
As its name implies, the HAWC is a concept weapon that will not be loaded directly onto aircraft or bombers but rather serves as a platform for the development of future hypersonic technologies.
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New Missile Systems
In fact, the Air Force is already moving forward with two additional missile systems, including the All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, which had its first successful launch off the coast of southern California in December aboard a B-52H Stratofortress.
Unlike a subsonic or ramjet engine, the HAWC’s and similar missiles’ scramjet propulsion system allows them to achieve impressive speeds.
Because it operates at such high speeds, the engine uses an inlet to force in supersonic compressed air ramjets only use subsonic air through the system prior to mixing it with hydrogen fuel, allowing it to achieve speeds greater than Mach 5 and beyond.
This extreme velocity renders hypersonic missiles extremely lethal, as they are able to evade most modern air defense systems a doomsday scenario the U.S. is also trying to mitigate.
Although this is the last HAWC test, the Air Force plans to use the information gained to inform future platforms like HACM and create a new program called More Opportunities with HAWC.
HAWC program manager Andrew Knoedler said in a statement that the program has helped train the next generation of hypersonic engineers and scientists. The HAWC also contributed an abundance of data and advancements to the airbreathing hypersonic community.
This advancement will be required if the U.S. military wishes to match the power of other hypersonic missile programs in development around the globe.
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