The US Navy has tested a solid-propellant first-stage engine of a promising missile that will carry a hypersonic unit. Earlier it became known that the destroyer Zumwalt will be the first carrier of a new hypersonic weapon in the US Navy.
The Americans are seriously concerned about the successes of Russia and China in the creation of new hypersonic systems and are doing everything possible to ensure that the leadership in the future is theirs. As it became known, the US Navy conducted the first firing tests of the engine, which will be used in the new hypersonic system.
The Promontory test was organized by the US Naval Forces Strategic Systems Program Office. It is reported that the tests will allow joint tests of the Ground Forces and the Navy in the first quarter of the 2022th fiscal year, and in the future - to take the complex into service.
“We are delighted to celebrate this important event with the US Navy, Army and Northrup Grumman. This result today is the result of our common efforts and commitment to success in testing the program,”- said in this regard in Lockheed Martin. Note that Northrop Grumman developed the engine, and Lockheed Martin acts as an integrator of weapons systems.
The first stage, with its proven solid fuel engine, is one of the key elements of the system. The missile will become the carrier of the hypersonic unit, which will hit the enemy's targets.
Not so long ago, it became known about new tests of the Common-Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) hypersonic gliding unit, which should become the basis of a new weapons system being developed in the interests of the US Navy and the US Army. The stealth destroyer Zumwalt should become the first naval carrier of a promising weapon. It was also reported that the Pentagon is considering new fourth-generation Virginia-class submarines as the carrier of the hypersonic system.
Information about the capabilities of the new American weapon is still incomplete and contradictory. According to one recent statement from the US Department of Defense on this score, the option for the Ground Forces will have a range of 2,775 kilometers.
The military version is designated Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW). It is also known that the Americans show no less (and, in all probability, even more) attention to the development of air-launched hypersonic weapons. The most famous complex for the Air Force can be called the AGM-183A ARRW (Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon), which is carried by the B-52 bomber, and other aircraft may become in the future. The next tests of the system were carried out this spring.