U.S. military successfully tests Advanced Hypersonic Weapon

The Department of Defense announced on early Thursday morning a successfully tested of the Army’s hypersonic weapon, dubbed the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, it  will allow the U.S. military to strike targets anywhere in the world within an hour, the Pentagon confirmed on Friday.

The Pentagon said the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) glide vehicle was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai County, Hawaii at 1.30 a.m. local time on Thursday. It later hit its target, the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll (about 2,500 miles), in the Pacific Ocean.

“The objective of the test is to collect data on hypersonic boost-glide technologies and test range performance for long-range atmospheric flight,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “Mission emphasis is aerodynamics; navigation, guidance, and control; and thermal protection technologies.”

The Pentagon said a three-stage booster system launched the AHW glide vehicle and successfully deployed it on the desired flight trajectory. “The vehicle flew a non-ballistic glide trajectory at hypersonic speed to the planned impact location at the Reagan Test Site,” it said. “Space, air, sea, and ground platforms collected vehicle performance data during all phases of flight.”

The AHW program is managed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and is part of the “Prompt Global Strike” program. The program will allow the U.S. military to deliver a precise weapon strike anywhere in the world in less than 60 minutes.

On August 11, the U.S. military unsuccessfully launched the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The HTV is part of the “Prompt Global Strike” program but has a larger reach than the AHW.

Contact with the HTV-2 was lost after an Air Force Minotaur IV rocket inserted it into the desired trajectory. Separation of the vehicle was confirmed by a rocket cam and the aircraft transitioned to Mach 20 (15,200 miles or 24,500 kilometers per hour) before it failed.

The prototype HTV-2 aircraft had its first test flight on April 22, 2010, when telemetry assets also experienced a loss of signal from the aircraft. The Pentagon has invested nearly $240 million in the “Prompt Global Strike” program this year, including some $69 million for Thursday’s test.

Hoo-ah: Missile Defense Flight Test Results in Successful Intercept

The Missile Defense Agency announced it has completed an important exercise and flight test involving a successful intercept by a ground-based interceptor missile designed to protect the United States against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack.

The flight test results will help to further refine the performance of numerous Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) elements able to provide a defense against the type of long-range ballistic missile that could be used to attack the nation with a weapon of mass destruction.

For this exercise, a threat-representative target missile was launched from Kodiak, Alaska at 3:04pm (EST).

This long-range ballistic target was tracked by several land- and sea-based radars, which sent targeting information to the interceptor missile.

At 3:23pm (EST)the Ground-Based Interceptor was launched from the Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Site, located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The interceptor’s exoatmospheric kill vehicle was carried into the target’s predicted trajectory in space, maneuvered to the target, performed discrimination, and intercepted the threat warhead.

This was the first time an operational crew located at the alternate fire control center at Ft. Greely, Alaska remotely launched the interceptor from Vandenberg AFB. In previous interceptor launches from Vandenberg, military crews at the fire control center at Schriever AFB, Colo. remotely launched the interceptor.

The target was successfully tracked by a transportable AN/TPY-2 radar located in Juneau, Alaska, a U.S. Navy Aegis BMD ship with SPY-1 radar, the Upgraded Early Warning Radar at Beale Air Force Base, Calif.,
and the Sea-Based X-band radar. Each sensor sent information to the fire control system, which integrated the data together to provide the most accurate target trajectory for the interceptor.

The interceptor’s exoatmospheric kill vehicle is the component that collides directly with a target warhead in space to perform a “hit to kill” intercept using only the force of the collision to totally destroy the target warhead.

Initial indications are that all components performed as designed.

Program officials will evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

This was the 37th successful hit-to-kill intercept out of 47 attempts against missiles of all ranges since 2001.

Operational Ground-Based Interceptors are currently deployed at Ft. Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg AFB, protecting the nation, our friends, and allies against ballistic missile attack.