USA successfully conducted second hypersonic missile test

Last Monday (30), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force, missile Hypersonic built in partnership with aerospace products manufacturer Lockheed Martin – In December, a test was conducted with another hypersonic projectile. The test is part of the country’s efforts to compete with the weapons of China and Russia, which already have their own versions of hypersonic missiles.

Dubbed the Hypersonic Air Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC), the missile was able to travel at five times the speed of sound, reaching Mach 5 during testing. The bullet traveled about 480 kilometers at an altitude of 18 kilometers.

HAWC was launched from a subsonic B-52 Stratofortress bomber and uses a high-density hydrocarbon fuel to achieve speed – it’s propelled by an ordinary rocket before starting its own engine. The ‘positive point’ of these missiles is the possibility of evading anti-missile defense systems, as their hypersonic speed can reach 5 to 25 times the speed of sound.

hypersonic missile

“The HAWC program has spawned a new generation of hypersonic engineers and scientists. HAWC has also brought a wealth of data and progress to the hypersonic air breathing community. Industry teams have taken on the challenge of scramjet powered tools. [motor a jato de combustão supersônica] “Seriously, and we had the guts and luck to run it,” Andrew Knoedler, HAWC program manager, said in a statement.

While China and Russia are working on their own versions of hypersonic missiles, some of which are nuclear-powered, the United States has begun testing its own weapons, presumably to avoid intimidating ‘enemies’. In addition to hypersonic speed, some can change trajectory in flight, thereby evade missile defense systems.

In December 2022, the United States Air Force announced the first successful test of the hypersonic missile AGM-183A ARRW, which is considered the first North American projectile to reach a speed of five times the speed of sound.